# CVE-2023-52989: firewire: fix memory leak for payload of request subaction to IEC 61883-1 FCP region

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel FireWire subsystem allows attackers to cause denial of service by exhausting kernel memory.

- **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:** 27 Mar 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52989, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52989, GHSA-x768-g2cv-hv4j, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52989

## What is CVE-2023-52989?

CVE-2023-52989 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Mar 2025. 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:

firewire: fix memory leak for payload of request subaction to IEC 61883-1 FCP region

This patch is fix for Linux kernel v2.6.33 or later.

For request subaction to IEC 61883-1 FCP region, Linux FireWire subsystem
have had an issue of use-after-free. The subsystem allows multiple
user space listeners to the region, while data of the payload was likely
released before the listeners execute read(2) to access to it for copying
to user space.

The issue was fixed by a commit 281e20323ab7 ("firewire: core: fix
use-after-free regression in FCP handler"). The object of payload is
duplicated in kernel space for each listener. When the listener executes
ioctl(2) with FW_CDEV_IOC_SEND_RESPONSE request, the object is going to
be released.

However, it causes memory leak since the commit relies on call of
release_request() in drivers/firewire/core-cdev.c. Against the
expectation, the function is never called due to the design of
release_client_resource(). The function delegates release task
to caller when called with non-NULL fourth argument. The implementation
of ioctl_send_response() is the case. It should release the object
explicitly.

This commit fixes the bug.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52989?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52989?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52989 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52989 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-2023-52989 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52989 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Mar 2025. 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-2023-52989 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-2023-52989/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52989/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52989
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52989
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52989

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52989/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.