CVE-2023-53443

Local denial of service via runtime-PM refcount leak

Published Sep 18, 2025 · Updated Sep 18, 2025

Reference-count leak in Linux's Arizona MFD driver allows local users to interrupt service through failed 32 kHz clock-enable attempts. The arizona_clk32k_enable() path calls pm_runtime_get_sync(), which increments the runtime-power reference count even when device resume returns an error. Reachability requires local low-privilege access and Arizona-supported hardware; the reported consequence is availability loss without data disclosure or modification.

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

Reference-count leak in Linux's Arizona MFD driver allows local users to interrupt service through failed 32 kHz clock-enable attempts. The arizona_clk32k_enable() path calls pm_runtime_get_sync(), which increments the runtime-power reference count even when device resume returns an error. Reachability requires local low-privilege access and Arizona-supported hardware; the reported consequence is availability loss without data disclosure or modification.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-53443
Published
Sep 18, 2025
Updated
Sep 18, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
T1499
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 <4414a7ab80cebf715045e3c4d465feefbad21139
  2. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <5a47bb71b1a94a279144fc3031d3c4591b38dd16
  3. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <7195e642b49af60d4120fa1b45bd812ba528174f
  4. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <754e81ff44061dda68da0fd4ef51bd1aa9fbf2cf
  5. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <9893771097b22a8743a446e45994a177795ca4da
  6. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <dc9437e9889c3dacf1f320e3cf08da74127573fe

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <4414a7ab80cebf715045e3c4d465feefbad21139; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <5a47bb71b1a94a279144fc3031d3c4591b38dd16; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <7195e642b49af60d4120fa1b45bd812ba528174f; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <754e81ff44061dda68da0fd4ef51bd1aa9fbf2cf; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <9893771097b22a8743a446e45994a177795ca4da; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <dc9437e9889c3dacf1f320e3cf08da74127573fe

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS: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

T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

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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