CVE-2023-53404

Local service interruption via unreleased debugfs dentry

Published Sep 18, 2025 · Updated Sep 18, 2025

Memory leak in the FOTG210 USB host controller driver in Linux allows local users to consume kernel memory through debugfs teardown. In drivers/usb/fotg210/fotg210-hcd.c, the driver calls debugfs_lookup without releasing the returned dentry before removing the directory; the fix combines lookup and removal so the reference is released. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and a system using the FOTG210 controller, and repeated teardown can interrupt service by exhausting kernel memory.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.14%
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 FOTG210 USB host controller driver in Linux allows local users to consume kernel memory through debugfs teardown. In drivers/usb/fotg210/fotg210-hcd.c, the driver calls debugfs_lookup without releasing the returned dentry before removing the directory; the fix combines lookup and removal so the reference is released. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and a system using the FOTG210 controller, and repeated teardown can interrupt service by exhausting kernel memory.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-53404
Published
Sep 18, 2025
Updated
Sep 18, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-401, T1499.001
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 18, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 18, 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=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <4a71b15744b8f286718722f80b663c06ed909d8a
  2. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <55c2ffc534928f4732199617e3b746d79a57898f
  3. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <6b4040f452037a7e95472577891d57c6b18c89c5
  4. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <7d2d3bef6d700eb4261fb6761de2c95a9e3c0ac8

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <4a71b15744b8f286718722f80b663c06ed909d8a; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <55c2ffc534928f4732199617e3b746d79a57898f; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <6b4040f452037a7e95472577891d57c6b18c89c5; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <7d2d3bef6d700eb4261fb6761de2c95a9e3c0ac8

Published CVSS scores

5.5CISA ADP VulnrichmentCVSS: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 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-401Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
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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