# CVE-2023-52560: mm/damon/vaddr-test: fix memory leak in damon_do_test_apply_three_regions()

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel DAMON virtual address test module can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service when specific debug configurations are enabled.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 Mar 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52560, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52560, GHSA-65mj-5f83-m897, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52560

## What is CVE-2023-52560?

CVE-2023-52560 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Mar 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:

mm/damon/vaddr-test: fix memory leak in damon_do_test_apply_three_regions()

When CONFIG_DAMON_VADDR_KUNIT_TEST=y and making CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK=y
and CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK_AUTO_SCAN=y, the below memory leak is detected.

Since commit 9f86d624292c ("mm/damon/vaddr-test: remove unnecessary
variables"), the damon_destroy_ctx() is removed, but still call
damon_new_target() and damon_new_region(), the damon_region which is
allocated by kmem_cache_alloc() in damon_new_region() and the damon_target
which is allocated by kmalloc in damon_new_target() are not freed.  And
the damon_region which is allocated in damon_new_region() in
damon_set_regions() is also not freed.

So use damon_destroy_target to free all the damon_regions and damon_target.

    unreferenced object 0xffff888107c9a940 (size 64):
      comm "kunit_try_catch", pid 1069, jiffies 4294670592 (age 732.761s)
      hex dump (first 32 bytes):
        00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 6b 6b 6b 6b  ............kkkk
        60 c7 9c 07 81 88 ff ff f8 cb 9c 07 81 88 ff ff  `...............
      backtrace:
        [<ffffffff817e0167>] kmalloc_trace+0x27/0xa0
        [<ffffffff819c11cf>] damon_new_target+0x3f/0x1b0
        [<ffffffff819c7d55>] damon_do_test_apply_three_regions.constprop.0+0x95/0x3e0
        [<ffffffff819c82be>] damon_test_apply_three_regions1+0x21e/0x260
        [<ffffffff829fce6a>] kunit_generic_run_threadfn_adapter+0x4a/0x90
        [<ffffffff81237cf6>] kthread+0x2b6/0x380
        [<ffffffff81097add>] ret_from_fork+0x2d/0x70
        [<ffffffff81003791>] ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20
    unreferenced object 0xffff8881079cc740 (size 56):
      comm "kunit_try_catch", pid 1069, jiffies 4294670592 (age 732.761s)
      hex dump (first 32 bytes):
        05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
        6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 00 00 00 00 6b 6b 6b 6b  kkkkkkkk....kkkk
      backtrace:
        [<ffffffff819bc492>] damon_new_region+0x22/0x1c0
        [<ffffffff819c7d91>] damon_do_test_apply_three_regions.constprop.0+0xd1/0x3e0
        [<ffffffff819c82be>] damon_test_apply_three_regions1+0x21e/0x260
        [<ffffffff829fce6a>] kunit_generic_run_threadfn_adapter+0x4a/0x90
        [<ffffffff81237cf6>] kthread+0x2b6/0x380
        [<ffffffff81097add>] ret_from_fork+0x2d/0x70
        [<ffffffff81003791>] ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20
    unreferenced object 0xffff888107c9ac40 (size 64):
      comm "kunit_try_catch", pid 1071, jiffies 4294670595 (age 732.843s)
      hex dump (first 32 bytes):
        00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 6b 6b 6b 6b  ............kkkk
        a0 cc 9c 07 81 88 ff ff 78 a1 76 07 81 88 ff ff  ........x.v.....
      backtrace:
        [<ffffffff817e0167>] kmalloc_trace+0x27/0xa0
        [<ffffffff819c11cf>] damon_new_target+0x3f/0x1b0
        [<ffffffff819c7d55>] damon_do_test_apply_three_regions.constprop.0+0x95/0x3e0
        [<ffffffff819c851e>] damon_test_apply_three_regions2+0x21e/0x260
        [<ffffffff829fce6a>] kunit_generic_run_threadfn_adapter+0x4a/0x90
        [<ffffffff81237cf6>] kthread+0x2b6/0x380
        [<ffffffff81097add>] ret_from_fork+0x2d/0x70
        [<ffffffff81003791>] ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20
    unreferenced object 0xffff8881079ccc80 (size 56):
      comm "kunit_try_catch", pid 1071, jiffies 4294670595 (age 732.843s)
      hex dump (first 32 bytes):
        05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
        6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 00 00 00 00 6b 6b 6b 6b  kkkkkkkk....kkkk
      backtrace:
        [<ffffffff819bc492>] damon_new_region+0x22/0x1c0
        [<ffffffff819c7d91>] damon_do_test_apply_three_regions.constprop.0+0xd1/0x3e0
        [<ffffffff819c851e>] damon_test_apply_three_regions2+0x21e/0x260
        [<ffffffff829fce6a>] kunit_generic_run_threadfn_adapter+0x4a/0x90
        [<ffffffff81237cf6>] kthread+0x2b6/0x380
        [<ffffffff81097add>] ret_from_fork+0x2d/0x70
        [<ffff
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52560?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52560?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52560 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52560 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-52560 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52560 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Mar 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52560 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52560/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52560/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52560
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52560
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52560

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52560/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.