CVE-2023-53637

Service interruption via ov772x probe memory leak

Published Oct 7, 2025 · Updated Oct 7, 2025

Memory leak in the ov772x camera-sensor driver in Linux allows local users to interrupt service during failed device probing. When control setup sets priv->hdl.error, ov772x_probe() jumps to error_mutex_destroy without calling v4l2_ctrl_handler_free(), leaking allocations made by v4l2_ctrl_handler_init() and v4l2_ctrl_new_std(). A local low-privileged user must reach the device-probe error path; repeated failures consume kernel memory and can interrupt service.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.20%
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 ov772x camera-sensor driver in Linux allows local users to interrupt service during failed device probing. When control setup sets priv->hdl.error, ov772x_probe() jumps to error_mutex_destroy without calling v4l2_ctrl_handler_free(), leaking allocations made by v4l2_ctrl_handler_init() and v4l2_ctrl_new_std(). A local low-privileged user must reach the device-probe error path; repeated failures consume kernel memory and can interrupt service.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-53637
Published
Oct 7, 2025
Updated
Oct 7, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-401, T1499.001
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 7, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 7, 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=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <1da495101ef7507eb4f4b1dbec2874d740eff251
  2. Affected versionversion=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <448ce1cd50387b1345ec14eb191ef05f7afc2a26
  3. Affected versionversion=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <7485edb2b6ca5960205c0a49bedfd09bba30e521
  4. Affected versionversion=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <ac93f8ac66e60227bed42d5a023f0e6c15b52c0a
  5. Affected versionversion=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <c86d760c1c6855a6131e78d0ddacc48c79324ac3
  6. Affected versionversion=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <cc3b6011d7a9f149489eb9420c6305a779162c57
  7. Affected versionversion=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <dfaafeb8e9537969e8dba75491f732478c7fa9d6
  8. Affected versionversion=4.17

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <1da495101ef7507eb4f4b1dbec2874d740eff251; version=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <448ce1cd50387b1345ec14eb191ef05f7afc2a26; version=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <7485edb2b6ca5960205c0a49bedfd09bba30e521; version=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <ac93f8ac66e60227bed42d5a023f0e6c15b52c0a; version=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <c86d760c1c6855a6131e78d0ddacc48c79324ac3; version=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <cc3b6011d7a9f149489eb9420c6305a779162c57; version=1112babde21483d86ed3fbad1320b0ddf9ab2ece <dfaafeb8e9537969e8dba75491f732478c7fa9d6; version=4.17

Published CVSS scores

5.5Canonical UbuntuCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
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

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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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