medium 5.5

CVE-2023-53594 json

driver core: fix resource leak in device_add()

published 2025-10-04 13 mo ago modified 2026-11-05 3 d ago also EUVD-2025-32270

cvss: 5.5; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.1%; EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 4%
public exploits: 0; none known

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

When calling kobject_add() failed in device_add(), it will call cleanup_glue_dir() to free resource. But in kobject_add(), dev->kobj.parent has been set to NULL. This will cause resource leak.

The process is as follows: device_add() get_device_parent() class_dir_create_and_add() kobject_add() //kobject_get() ... dev->kobj.parent = kobj; ... kobject_add() //failed, but set dev->kobj.parent = NULL ... glue_dir = get_glue_dir(dev) //glue_dir = NULL, and goto //"Error" label ... cleanup_glue_dir() //becaues glue_dir is NULL, not call //kobject_put()

The preceding problem may cause insmod mac80211_hwsim.ko to failed. sysfs: cannot create duplicate filename '/devices/virtual/mac80211_hwsim' Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x8e/0xd1 sysfs_warn_dup.cold+0x1c/0x29 sysfs_create_dir_ns+0x224/0x280 kobject_add_internal+0x2aa/0x880 kobject_add+0x135/0x1a0 get_device_parent+0x3d7/0x590 device_add+0x2aa/0x1cb0 device_create_groups_vargs+0x1eb/0x260 device_create+0xdc/0x110 mac80211_hwsim_new_radio+0x31e/0x4790 [mac80211_hwsim] init_mac80211_hwsim+0x48d/0x1000 [mac80211_hwsim] do_one_initcall+0x10f/0x630 do_init_module+0x19f/0x5e0 load_module+0x64b7/0x6eb0 __do_sys_finit_module+0x140/0x200 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 </TASK> kobject_add_internal failed for mac80211_hwsim with -EEXIST, don't try to register things with the same name in the same directory.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1 distros 4 links 4

Linux Linux 3.11, 3.13, 4.5, 4.9, 5.15.99, 6.1.16, 6.2.3, 6.3

debian ubuntu red hat suse

linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 6.1.20-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53594

linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-75.82
linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1038.43
linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1036.44
linux-gke Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1036.41
linux-ibm Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1032.35
linux-kvm Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1035.40
linux-azure Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1040.47
linux-gkeop Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1022.27

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53594

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

kernel RHEL 8 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9
perf RHEL 8 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9
bpftool RHEL 8 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9
kernel-core RHEL 8 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9
kernel-tools RHEL 8 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9
python3-perf RHEL 8 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9
kernel-modules RHEL 8 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9
kernel-zfcpdump RHEL 8 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9

red hat advisories RHSA-2023:7077 RHSA-2023:6583

kernel-64kb SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1
kernel-syms SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS +1 more 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1
kernel-source SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE Micro 5.5 +2 more 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1
kernel-default SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE Micro 5.5 +3 more 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1
kernel-obs-build SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS +1 more 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1
kernel-default-base SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE Micro 5.5 +2 more 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1.150500.6.61.1
kernel-rt SLE Micro 5.5 5.14.21-150500.13.112.1
kernel-source-rt SLE Micro 5.5 5.14.21-150500.13.112.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:4320-1 SUSE-SU-2025:4189-1 SUSE-SU-2025:4149-1 SUSE-SU-2025:4139-1 SUSE-SU-2025:4111-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2023-53594 updated 2026-11-07 cvss 5.5

kernel: driver core: fix resource leak in device_add()

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more
affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-core, kernel-rt-modules, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, kernel-rt-debug-core, +6 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more
affected: no fix available “Fix deferred”
Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 8) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9 Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) perf 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9, kernel 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9, bpftool 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9, kernel-core 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9, kernel-tools 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9, python3-perf 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9, +15 more
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:7077
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 3 d ago (2026-11-05)

Exploit prediction

0.15% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 4% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.1	5.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

Linux Linux

Classification

Weakness

CWE-401 Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime

Technology feeds

Linux kernel rss critical rss

References

Sources

CVE List CVE-2023-53594
NVD CVE-2023-53594

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary