Kernel use-after-free via misordered device cleanup
Published Dec 9, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Use-after-free in the mt8186 ASoC audio driver in Linux 6.0 allows attackers to trigger stale-memory access during device removal. The cleanup registration in mt8186_init_clock() is inserted before later managed allocations, so mt8186_audsys_clk_unregister() runs before dependent clock objects are freed. Reachability requires an affected MediaTek mt8186 audio device to be bound and removed; no code-execution, privilege-escalation, or data-disclosure consequence has been published.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in the mt8186 ASoC audio driver in Linux 6.0 allows attackers to trigger stale-memory access during device removal. The cleanup registration in mt8186_init_clock() is inserted before later managed allocations, so mt8186_audsys_clk_unregister() runs before dependent clock objects are freed. Reachability requires an affected MediaTek mt8186 audio device to be bound and removed; no code-execution, privilege-escalation, or data-disclosure consequence has been published.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-53854
- Published
- Dec 9, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- Unavailable
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 9, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=55b423d5623ccd6785429431c2cf5f3e073b73ba <3e56a1c04882852e3e7d6c59756a16211ebbc457
- Affected versionversion=55b423d5623ccd6785429431c2cf5f3e073b73ba <a93d2afd3f77a7331271a0f25c6a11003db69b3c
- Affected versionversion=55b423d5623ccd6785429431c2cf5f3e073b73ba <dffd9e2b57cb845930fa885aa634a847ba2130dd
- Affected versionversion=6.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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