CVE-2023-53375
Linux Kernel 5.2 – 5.4.241
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-53375 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 5th 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
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-29945
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing: Free error logs of tracing instances When a tracing instance is removed, the error messages that hold errors that occurred in the instance needs to be freed. The following…
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reports a memory leak: # cd /sys/kernel/tracing # mkdir instances/foo # echo 'hist:keys=x' > instances/foo/events/sched/sched_switch/trigger # cat instances/foo/error_log [ 117.404795] hist:sched:sched_switch: error: Couldn't find field Command: hist:keys=x ^ # rmdir instances/foo Then check for memory leaks: # echo scan > /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak # cat /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak unreferenced object 0xffff88810d8ec700 (size 192): comm "bash", pid 869, jiffies 4294950577 (age 215.752s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 60 dd 68 61 81 88 ff ff 60 dd 68 61 81 88 ff ff `.ha....`.ha.... a0 30 8c 83 ff ff ff ff 26 00 0a 00 00 00 00 00 .0......&....... backtrace: [<00000000dae26536>] kmalloc_trace+0x2a/0xa0 [<00000000b2938940>] tracing_log_err+0x277/0x2e0 [<000000004a0e1b07>] parse_atom+0x966/0xb40 [<0000000023b24337>] parse_expr+0x5f3/0xdb0 [<00000000594ad074>] event_hist_trigger_parse+0x27f8/0x3560 [<00000000293a9645>] trigger_process_regex+0x135/0x1a0 [<000000005c22b4f2>] event_trigger_write+0x87/0xf0 [<000000002cadc509>] vfs_write+0x162/0x670 [<0000000059c3b9be>] ksys_write+0xca/0x170 [<00000000f1cddc00>] do_syscall_64+0x3e/0xc0 [<00000000868ac68c>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc unreferenced object 0xffff888170c35a00 (size 32): comm "bash", pid 869, jiffies 4294950577 (age 215.752s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 0a 20 20 43 6f 6d 6d 61 6e 64 3a 20 68 69 73 74 . Command: hist 3a 6b 65 79 73 3d 78 0a 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 :keys=x......... backtrace: [<000000006a747de5>] __kmalloc+0x4d/0x160 [<000000000039df5f>] tracing_log_err+0x29b/0x2e0 [<000000004a0e1b07>] parse_atom+0x966/0xb40 [<0000000023b24337>] parse_expr+0x5f3/0xdb0 [<00000000594ad074>] event_hist_trigger_parse+0x27f8/0x3560 [<00000000293a9645>] trigger_process_regex+0x135/0x1a0 [<000000005c22b4f2>] event_trigger_write+0x87/0xf0 [<000000002cadc509>] vfs_write+0x162/0x670 [<0000000059c3b9be>] ksys_write+0xca/0x170 [<00000000f1cddc00>] do_syscall_64+0x3e/0xc0 [<00000000868ac68c>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc The problem is that the error log needs to be freed when the instance is removed.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation (static analysis, fuzzing, or runtime leak detection) directly finds missing deallocation.
Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate memory-management disciplines that avoid leaks at introduction.
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.
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.