Service interruption via leaked SMB mount state
Published Sep 15, 2025 · Updated May 23, 2026
Memory leak in the Linux kernel SMB client allows local users to interrupt service by repeatedly triggering failed SMB mounts. The cifs_smb3_do_mount() cleanup path conditionally releases cifs_sb and its nested context, leaving allocated mount state unreleased on an error path. Reaching the flaw requires local mount activity against the affected SMB client; repeated failures can consume kernel memory until service is interrupted.
Summary
What happened
Memory leak in the Linux kernel SMB client allows local users to interrupt service by repeatedly triggering failed SMB mounts. The cifs_smb3_do_mount() cleanup path conditionally releases cifs_sb and its nested context, leaving allocated mount state unreleased on an error path. Reaching the flaw requires local mount activity against the affected SMB client; repeated failures can consume kernel memory until service is interrupted.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-53230
- Published
- Sep 15, 2025
- Updated
- May 23, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-401, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 15, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- 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.
- Affected versionversion=5.15.46 <5.15.128
- Affected versionversion=5.17.14 <5.18
- Affected versionversion=5.18.3 <5.19
- Affected versionversion=5.19
- Affected versionversion=8378a51e3f8140f60901fb27208cc7a6e47047b5 <12c30f33cc6769bf411088a2872843c4f9ea32f9
- Affected versionversion=8378a51e3f8140f60901fb27208cc7a6e47047b5 <945f4a7aff84fde1f825d17a5050880345da3228
- Affected versionversion=8378a51e3f8140f60901fb27208cc7a6e47047b5 <eb79f8dfba343667f9a82a252743f4e8f67ce420
- Affected versionversion=9a167fc440e5693c1cdd7f07071e05658bd9d89d
- Affected versionversion=ce0008a0e410cdd95f0d8cd81b2902ec10a660c4 <9850867042674361f455ea8901375cff5b800be5
- Affected versionversion=ee71f8f1cd3c8c4a251fd3e8abc89215ae3457cb
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
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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