CVE-2023-53078

Local denial of service via ALUA memory leak

Published May 2, 2025 · Updated May 23, 2026

Memory leak in the SCSI ALUA handler in Linux 4.11 through 6.2.9 allows local users to exhaust memory during failed path activation. The alua_activate() error path fails to free its 32-byte qdata allocation when alua_rtpg_queue() returns an error, so each failed activation retains kernel memory. Reachability requires the SCSI ALUA device handler and a failing report-target-port-groups queue during multipath activation; repeated failures degrade availability through memory exhaustion.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.19%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Memory leak in the SCSI ALUA handler in Linux 4.11 through 6.2.9 allows local users to exhaust memory during failed path activation. The alua_activate() error path fails to free its 32-byte qdata allocation when alua_rtpg_queue() returns an error, so each failed activation retains kernel memory. Reachability requires the SCSI ALUA device handler and a failing report-target-port-groups queue during multipath activation; repeated failures degrade availability through memory exhaustion.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-53078
Published
May 2, 2025
Updated
May 23, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
Unavailable
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 2, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 23, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=2b1725d1df362499f6bbd5a7e245a4090b29c2bb
  2. Affected versionversion=4.10.9 <4.11
  3. Affected versionversion=4.11
  4. Affected versionversion=4.9.21 <4.10
  5. Affected versionversion=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <0d89254a4320eb7de0970c478172f764125c6355
  6. Affected versionversion=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <123483df146492ca22b503ae6dacc2ce7c3a3974
  7. Affected versionversion=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <1c55982beb80c7d3c30278fc6cfda8496a31dbe6
  8. Affected versionversion=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <5c4d71424df34fc23dc5336d09394ce68c849542
  9. Affected versionversion=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <9311e7a554dffd3823499e309a8b86a5cd1540e5
  10. Affected versionversion=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <a13faca032acbf2699293587085293bdfaafc8ae
  11. Affected versionversion=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <c09cdf6eb815ee35e55d6c50ac7f63db58bd20b8
  12. Affected versionversion=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <c110051d335ef7f62ad33474b0c23997fee5bfb5
  13. Affected versionversion=68b275b7cbf065a8ea9b964cbb7d78d2b63c635f

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=2b1725d1df362499f6bbd5a7e245a4090b29c2bb; version=4.10.9 <4.11; version=4.11; version=4.9.21 <4.10; version=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <0d89254a4320eb7de0970c478172f764125c6355; version=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <123483df146492ca22b503ae6dacc2ce7c3a3974; version=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <1c55982beb80c7d3c30278fc6cfda8496a31dbe6; version=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <5c4d71424df34fc23dc5336d09394ce68c849542; version=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <9311e7a554dffd3823499e309a8b86a5cd1540e5; version=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <a13faca032acbf2699293587085293bdfaafc8ae; version=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <c09cdf6eb815ee35e55d6c50ac7f63db58bd20b8; version=625fe857e4fac6518716f3c0ff5e5deb8ec6d238 <c110051d335ef7f62ad33474b0c23997fee5bfb5; version=68b275b7cbf065a8ea9b964cbb7d78d2b63c635f

Published CVSS scores

5.5Canonical UbuntuCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

No sourced classifications are available.

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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