CVE-2023-52445 media: pvrusb2: fix use after free on context disconnection

What is CVE-2023-52445?

CVE-2023-52445 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 Feb 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

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

media: pvrusb2: fix use after free on context disconnection

Upon module load, a kthread is created targeting the pvr2_context_thread_func function, which may call pvr2_context_destroy and thus call kfree() on the context object. However, that might happen before the usb hub_event handler is able to notify the driver. This patch adds a sanity check before the invalid read reported by syzbot, within the context disconnection call stack.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52445?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-52445?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2023-52445 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52445 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-52445, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52445, GHSA-84fp-h279-ggmw, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52445.