CVE-2023-53181

Local service interruption via fence-array leak

Published Sep 15, 2025 · Updated Sep 15, 2025

Memory leak in dma-buf reservation handling in Linux allows local users to interrupt service by exhausting kernel memory. When a fence iteration restarts, dma_resv_get_fences() assigns krealloc_array() directly to the existing array pointer, losing that allocation when resizing fails. Exploitation requires local low-privilege access, a restarted fence iteration, and allocation failure; the supported consequence is availability loss only.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.15%
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 dma-buf reservation handling in Linux allows local users to interrupt service by exhausting kernel memory. When a fence iteration restarts, dma_resv_get_fences() assigns krealloc_array() directly to the existing array pointer, losing that allocation when resizing fails. Exploitation requires local low-privilege access, a restarted fence iteration, and allocation failure; the supported consequence is availability loss only.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-53181
Published
Sep 15, 2025
Updated
Sep 15, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
T1499.001
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 15, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 15, 2025Record 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=5.16
  2. Affected versionversion=d3c80698c9f58a0683badf78793eebaa0c71afbd <05abb3be91d8788328231ee02973ab3d47f5e3d2
  3. Affected versionversion=d3c80698c9f58a0683badf78793eebaa0c71afbd <19e7b9f1f7e1cb92a4cc53b4c064f7fb4b1f1983
  4. Affected versionversion=d3c80698c9f58a0683badf78793eebaa0c71afbd <819656cc03dec7f7f7800274dfbc8eb49f888e9f

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=5.16; version=d3c80698c9f58a0683badf78793eebaa0c71afbd <05abb3be91d8788328231ee02973ab3d47f5e3d2; version=d3c80698c9f58a0683badf78793eebaa0c71afbd <19e7b9f1f7e1cb92a4cc53b4c064f7fb4b1f1983; version=d3c80698c9f58a0683badf78793eebaa0c71afbd <819656cc03dec7f7f7800274dfbc8eb49f888e9f

Published CVSS scores

5.5SUSECVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.5NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
7.0Amazon LinuxCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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

T1499.001OS Exhaustion Flood

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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