CVE-2023-53641

MEDIUM EPSS 3.9%
Published Oct 7, 20258mo ago · Modified Jun 17, 20261w ago
5.5 CVSS 3.1
Medium
Find Similar
Published Oct 7, 2025 8mo ago
Last Modified Jun 17, 2026 1w ago

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath9k: hif_usb: fix memory leak of remain_skbs hif_dev->remain_skb is allocated and used exclusively in ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream(). It is implied that an allocated remain_skb is processed and subsequently freed (in error paths) only during the next call of ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream(). So, if the urbs are deallocated between those two calls due to the device deinitialization or suspend, it is possible that ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream() is not called next time and the allocated remain_skb is leaked. Our local Syzkaller instance was able to trigger that. remain_skb makes sense when receiving two consecutive urbs which are logically linked together, i.e. a specific data field from the first skb indicates a cached skb to be allocated, memcpy'd with some data and subsequently processed in the next call to ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream(). Urbs deallocation supposedly makes that link irrelevant so we need to free the cached skb in those cases. Fix the leak by introducing a function to explicitly free remain_skb (if it is not NULL) when the rx urbs have been deallocated. remain_skb is NULL when it has not been allocated at all (hif_dev struct is kzalloced) or when it has been processed in next call to ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream(). Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.

CVSS Details

Base Score
5.5
Exploitability
1.8
Impact
3.6
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack Vector Local
Attack Complexity Low
Privileges Required Low
User Interaction None
Scope Unchanged
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability High

Threat Intelligence

EPSS Exploit Probability
3.9% percentile
Exploit & Patch Status
No Known Exploit
Patch Available

Weaknesses 1

CWE-401

Affected Products 7

VendorProductVersionRange
linuxlinux_kernel*≥2.6.35  –  <4.19.283
linuxlinux_kernel*≥4.20  –  <5.4.243
linuxlinux_kernel*≥5.5  –  <5.10.180
linuxlinux_kernel*≥5.11  –  <5.15.111
linuxlinux_kernel*≥5.16  –  <6.1.28
linuxlinux_kernel*≥6.2  –  <6.2.15
linuxlinux_kernel*≥6.3  –  <6.3.2

References 8

  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/320d760a35273aa815d58b57e4fd9ba5279a3489
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/59073060fe0950c6ecbe12bdc06469dcac62128d
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6719e3797ec52cd144c8a5ba8aaab36674800585
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7654cc03eb699297130b693ec34e25f77b17c947
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8f02d538878c9b1501f624595eb22ee4e5e0ff84
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b9356a3014123f0ce4b50d9278c1265173150ab
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d9899318660791141ea6002fda5577b2c5d7386e
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f0931fc8f4b6847c72e170d2326861c0a081d680
    Patch

Remediation

  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/320d760a35273aa815d58b57e4fd9ba5279a3489
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/59073060fe0950c6ecbe12bdc06469dcac62128d
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6719e3797ec52cd144c8a5ba8aaab36674800585
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7654cc03eb699297130b693ec34e25f77b17c947
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8f02d538878c9b1501f624595eb22ee4e5e0ff84
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b9356a3014123f0ce4b50d9278c1265173150ab
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d9899318660791141ea6002fda5577b2c5d7386e
    Patch
  • git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f0931fc8f4b6847c72e170d2326861c0a081d680
    Patch