Security Resilience

CVE-2023-52989

Linux Kernel 2.6.33 – 4.14.306

Published
27 March 2025
Modified
01 October 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0026 16th percentile
Risk Priority 42 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-52989 is a medium-severity Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime (CWE-401) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Junk Data (T1001.001); ranked at the 16th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: firewire: fix memory leak for payload of request subaction to IEC 61883-1 FCP region This patch is fix for Linux kernel v2.6.33 or later. For request subaction to IEC 61883-1…

more

FCP region, Linux FireWire subsystem have had an issue of use-after-free. The subsystem allows multiple user space listeners to the region, while data of the payload was likely released before the listeners execute read(2) to access to it for copying to user space. The issue was fixed by a commit 281e20323ab7 ("firewire: core: fix use-after-free regression in FCP handler"). The object of payload is duplicated in kernel space for each listener. When the listener executes ioctl(2) with FW_CDEV_IOC_SEND_RESPONSE request, the object is going to be released. However, it causes memory leak since the commit relies on call of release_request() in drivers/firewire/core-cdev.c. Against the expectation, the function is never called due to the design of release_client_resource(). The function delegates release task to caller when called with non-NULL fourth argument. The implementation of ioctl_send_response() is the case. It should release the object explicitly. This commit fixes the bug.

CWE(s)
CWE-401

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control
Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-71186Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-43074Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-53449Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2025-39890Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-53682Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-64139Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-52698Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-26912Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-23022Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-53211Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
6.2 · 2.6.33 — 4.14.306 · 4.15 — 4.19.273 · 4.20 — 5.4.232

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation (static analysis, fuzzing, or runtime leak detection) directly finds missing deallocation.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate memory-management disciplines that avoid leaks at introduction.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles applied during development can require explicit resource-release patterns that stop memory leaks from being coded.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly enforce proper memory allocation/deallocation via coding standards, reviews, and tooling.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

References