# CVE-2023-53028: Revert "wifi: mac80211: fix memory leak in ieee80211_if_add()"

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's mac80211 Wi-Fi subsystem can cause a system crash, requiring a kernel patch.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53028, GHSA-gr59-j2cc-29g3, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53028

## What is CVE-2023-53028?

CVE-2023-53028 is a high-severity 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:

Revert "wifi: mac80211: fix memory leak in ieee80211_if_add()"

This reverts commit 13e5afd3d773c6fc6ca2b89027befaaaa1ea7293.

ieee80211_if_free() is already called from free_netdev(ndev)
because ndev->priv_destructor == ieee80211_if_free

syzbot reported:

general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000004: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000020-0x0000000000000027]
CPU: 0 PID: 10041 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-syzkaller-00388-g55b98837e37d #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/26/2022
RIP: 0010:pcpu_get_page_chunk mm/percpu.c:262 [inline]
RIP: 0010:pcpu_chunk_addr_search mm/percpu.c:1619 [inline]
RIP: 0010:free_percpu mm/percpu.c:2271 [inline]
RIP: 0010:free_percpu+0x186/0x10f0 mm/percpu.c:2254
Code: 80 3c 02 00 0f 85 f5 0e 00 00 48 8b 3b 48 01 ef e8 cf b3 0b 00 48 ba 00 00 00 00 00 fc ff df 48 8d 78 20 48 89 f9 48 c1 e9 03 <80> 3c 11 00 0f 85 3b 0e 00 00 48 8b 58 20 48 b8 00 00 00 00 00 fc
RSP: 0018:ffffc90004ba7068 EFLAGS: 00010002
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff88823ffe2b80 RCX: 0000000000000004
RDX: dffffc0000000000 RSI: ffffffff81c1f4e7 RDI: 0000000000000020
RBP: ffffe8fffe8fc220 R08: 0000000000000005 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 1ffffffff2179ab2 R12: ffff8880b983d000
R13: 0000000000000003 R14: 0000607f450fc220 R15: ffff88823ffe2988
FS: 00007fcb349de700(0000) GS:ffff8880b9800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000001b32220000 CR3: 000000004914f000 CR4: 00000000003506f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
<TASK>
netdev_run_todo+0x6bf/0x1100 net/core/dev.c:10352
ieee80211_register_hw+0x2663/0x4040 net/mac80211/main.c:1411
mac80211_hwsim_new_radio+0x2537/0x4d80 drivers/net/wireless/mac80211_hwsim.c:4583
hwsim_new_radio_nl+0xa09/0x10f0 drivers/net/wireless/mac80211_hwsim.c:5176
genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.0+0x1e6/0x2d0 net/netlink/genetlink.c:968
genl_family_rcv_msg net/netlink/genetlink.c:1048 [inline]
genl_rcv_msg+0x4ff/0x7e0 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1065
netlink_rcv_skb+0x165/0x440 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2564
genl_rcv+0x28/0x40 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1076
netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1330 [inline]
netlink_unicast+0x547/0x7f0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1356
netlink_sendmsg+0x91b/0xe10 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1932
sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:714 [inline]
sock_sendmsg+0xd3/0x120 net/socket.c:734
____sys_sendmsg+0x712/0x8c0 net/socket.c:2476
___sys_sendmsg+0x110/0x1b0 net/socket.c:2530
__sys_sendmsg+0xf7/0x1c0 net/socket.c:2559
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x39/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53028?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53028?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53028 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53028 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-2023-53028 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53028 is a high-severity 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-2023-53028 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-2023-53028/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53028/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53028
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53028
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53028

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53028/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.