CVE-2023-52576 x86/mm, kexec, ima: Use memblock_free_late() from ima_free_kexec_buffer()

What is CVE-2023-52576?

CVE-2023-52576 is a medium-severity use after free 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:

x86/mm, kexec, ima: Use memblock_free_late() from ima_free_kexec_buffer()

The code calling ima_free_kexec_buffer() runs long after the memblock allocator has already been torn down, potentially resulting in a use after free in memblock_isolate_range().

With KASAN or KFENCE, this use after free will result in a BUG from the idle task, and a subsequent kernel panic.

Switch ima_free_kexec_buffer() over to memblock_free_late() to avoid that bug.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52576?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-52576?

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-2023-52576 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52576 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-2023-52576, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52576, GHSA-jj48-3v62-2vf9, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-52576, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52576.