CVE-2023-53418

Kernel memory exhaustion via unreleased debugfs references

Published Sep 18, 2025 · Updated Sep 18, 2025

Memory leak in the Linux LPC32xx USB gadget driver allows local users to exhaust kernel memory by repeatedly reaching debugfs cleanup. The driver passes the dentry returned by debugfs_lookup() directly to debugfs_remove() without releasing the lookup reference, so each cleanup leaks memory. The public advisory does not identify the action available to a low-privileged local user that repeatedly reaches this hardware-specific cleanup path.

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 Linux LPC32xx USB gadget driver allows local users to exhaust kernel memory by repeatedly reaching debugfs cleanup. The driver passes the dentry returned by debugfs_lookup() directly to debugfs_remove() without releasing the lookup reference, so each cleanup leaks memory. The public advisory does not identify the action available to a low-privileged local user that repeatedly reaches this hardware-specific cleanup path.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-53418
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 <036ada6ca9eea926abc0b0ef550b10488d66d4d8
  2. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <72c25eb9ae4993ccac4821354ff34eb1f32e4781
  3. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <7a5fdd8660174a8056de57d1fdce3a7e9f77f60e
  4. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <e3965acaf3739fde9d74ad82979b46d37c6c208f

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <036ada6ca9eea926abc0b0ef550b10488d66d4d8; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <72c25eb9ae4993ccac4821354ff34eb1f32e4781; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <7a5fdd8660174a8056de57d1fdce3a7e9f77f60e; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <e3965acaf3739fde9d74ad82979b46d37c6c208f

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.5CISA-ADPCVSS: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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

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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