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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53028

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-03-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.10.165 / 5.15.90 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Revert "wifi: mac80211: fix memory leak in ieee80211_if_add()" This reverts commit 13e5afd3d773c6fc6ca2b89027befaaaa1ea7293. ieee80211_if_free() is already called from free_netdev(ndev) because ndev->priv_destructor == ieee80211_if_free syzbot reported: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000004: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000020-0x0000000000000027] CPU: 0 PID: 10041 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-syzkaller-00388-g55b98837e37d #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/26/2022 RIP: 0010:pcpu_get_page_chunk mm/percpu.c:262 [inline] RIP: 0010:pcpu_chunk_addr_search mm/percpu.c:1619 [inline] RIP: 0010:free_percpu mm/percpu.c:2271 [inline] RIP: 0010:free_percpu+0x186/0x10f0 mm/percpu.c:2254 Code: 80 3c 02 00 0f 85 f5 0e 00 00 48 8b 3b 48 01 ef e8 cf b3 0b 00 48 ba 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 8d 78 20 48 89 f9 48 c1 e9 03 <80> 3c 11 00 0f 85 3b 0e 00 00 48 8b 58 20 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc RSP: 0018:ffffc90004ba7068 EFLAGS: 00010002 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff88823ffe2b80 RCX: 0000000000000004 RDX: dffffc0000000000 RSI: ffffffff81c1f4e7 RDI: 0000000000000020 RBP: ffffe8fffe8fc220 R08: 0000000000000005 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 1ffffffff2179ab2 R12: ffff8880b983d000 R13: 0000000000000003 R14: 0000607f450fc220 R15: ffff88823ffe2988 FS: 00007fcb349de700(0000) GS:ffff8880b9800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000001b32220000 CR3: 000000004914f000 CR4: 00000000003506f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> netdev_run_todo+0x6bf/0x1100 net/core/dev.c:10352 ieee80211_register_hw+0x2663/0x4040 net/mac80211/main.c:1411 mac80211_hwsim_new_radio+0x2537/0x4d80 drivers/net/wireless/mac80211_hwsim.c:4583 hwsim_new_radio_nl+0xa09/0x10f0 drivers/net/wireless/mac80211_hwsim.c:5176 genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.0+0x1e6/0x2d0 net/netlink/genetlink.c:968 genl_family_rcv_msg net/netlink/genetlink.c:1048 [inline] genl_rcv_msg+0x4ff/0x7e0 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1065 netlink_rcv_skb+0x165/0x440 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2564 genl_rcv+0x28/0x40 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1076 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1330 [inline] netlink_unicast+0x547/0x7f0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1356 netlink_sendmsg+0x91b/0xe10 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1932 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:714 [inline] sock_sendmsg+0xd3/0x120 net/socket.c:734 ____sys_sendmsg+0x712/0x8c0 net/socket.c:2476 ___sys_sendmsg+0x110/0x1b0 net/socket.c:2530 __sys_sendmsg+0xf7/0x1c0 net/socket.c:2559 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x39/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-401

Allocated memory is never released on some path, so a long-running service or a repeatedly triggered request steadily consumes memory until performance degrades or the process crashes. Attackers exploit it by simply driving the leaking path. Remediation is pairing every allocation with a release and using ownership patterns or tooling to catch what leaks.

General guidance for the memory leak class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 5.10.163, < 5.10.165>= 5.15.86, < 5.15.90>= 6.0.16, < 6.1>= 6.1.2, < 6.1.8

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.10.165 / 5.15.90 / 6.1 or later
Fixed in 5.10.1655.15.906.1
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Linux kernel 5.10.165+, 5.15.90+, 6.1.8+, or 6.1.x (any version >= 6.1)

  1. 1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. 2. Check if the kernel version falls within one of the affected ranges: >= 5.10.163 and < 5.10.165, >= 5.15.86 and < 5.15.90, >= 6.0.16 and < 6.1, or >= 6.1.2 and < 6.1.8
  3. 3. If affected, upgrade the kernel to a fixed version: 5.10.165 or later, 5.15.90 or later, 6.1.8 or later, or 6.1.0 (which includes the fix)
  4. 4. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  5. 5. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version after reboot
Caveat Standard kernel upgrade - review distribution-specific release notes for any driver or configuration changes

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-53028 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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