CVE-2023-52475 Input: powermate - fix use-after-free in powermate_config_complete

What is CVE-2023-52475?

CVE-2023-52475 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 29 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:

Input: powermate - fix use-after-free in powermate_config_complete

syzbot has found a use-after-free bug [1] in the powermate driver. This happens when the device is disconnected, which leads to a memory free from the powermate_device struct. When an asynchronous control message completes after the kfree and its callback is invoked, the lock does not exist anymore and hence the bug.

Use usb_kill_urb() on pm->config to cancel any in-progress requests upon device disconnection.

[1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=0434ac83f907a1dbdd1e

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52475?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-52475?

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-2023-52475 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52475 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-2023-52475, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52475, GHSA-jr9w-q6f5-5c6c, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52475.