CVE-2023-53416

Local denial of service via debugfs reference leak

Published Sep 18, 2025 · Updated Sep 18, 2025

Memory leak in the isp1362 USB host-controller driver in Linux allows local users to exhaust kernel memory during debugfs cleanup. The remove_debug_file function passes the dentry returned by debugfs_lookup directly to debugfs_remove without dropping the lookup reference, so each cleanup leaks kernel memory. The isp1362 driver and debugfs support must be present; public sources do not identify a repeatable low-privilege trigger, so exposure depends on driver cleanup being invoked.

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 isp1362 USB host-controller driver in Linux allows local users to exhaust kernel memory during debugfs cleanup. The remove_debug_file function passes the dentry returned by debugfs_lookup directly to debugfs_remove without dropping the lookup reference, so each cleanup leaks kernel memory. The isp1362 driver and debugfs support must be present; public sources do not identify a repeatable low-privilege trigger, so exposure depends on driver cleanup being invoked.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-53416
Published
Sep 18, 2025
Updated
Sep 18, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-401, T1499.004
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 <9d537c35e48feba9d450acca0ff14a55ce1ec450
  2. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <b0a8195a84a725ca7936c213b5e056d2a3ab2a94
  3. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <c26e682afc14caa87d44beed271eec8991e93c65
  4. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <fb284bee1e213c94be9131d1aca7c16bd6ba259d

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <9d537c35e48feba9d450acca0ff14a55ce1ec450; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <b0a8195a84a725ca7936c213b5e056d2a3ab2a94; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <c26e682afc14caa87d44beed271eec8991e93c65; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <fb284bee1e213c94be9131d1aca7c16bd6ba259d

Published CVSS scores

3.3Amazon LinuxCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
5.5NVDCVSS: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

CWE-401Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
T1499.004Endpoint Denial of Service: Application or System Exploitation

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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