# CVE-2023-53045: usb: gadget: u_audio: don't let userspace block driver unbind

> A local attacker can block USB gadget driver unbinding by holding file descriptors open, causing system hangs during reboot or unbind operations.

- **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 May 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53045, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53045, GHSA-q37h-r28r-j29c, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53045

## What is CVE-2023-53045?

CVE-2023-53045 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 May 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:

usb: gadget: u_audio: don't let userspace block driver unbind

In the unbind callback for f_uac1 and f_uac2, a call to snd_card_free()
via g_audio_cleanup() will disconnect the card and then wait for all
resources to be released, which happens when the refcount falls to zero.
Since userspace can keep the refcount incremented by not closing the
relevant file descriptor, the call to unbind may block indefinitely.
This can cause a deadlock during reboot, as evidenced by the following
blocked task observed on my machine:

  task:reboot  state:D stack:0   pid:2827  ppid:569    flags:0x0000000c
  Call trace:
   __switch_to+0xc8/0x140
   __schedule+0x2f0/0x7c0
   schedule+0x60/0xd0
   schedule_timeout+0x180/0x1d4
   wait_for_completion+0x78/0x180
   snd_card_free+0x90/0xa0
   g_audio_cleanup+0x2c/0x64
   afunc_unbind+0x28/0x60
   ...
   kernel_restart+0x4c/0xac
   __do_sys_reboot+0xcc/0x1ec
   __arm64_sys_reboot+0x28/0x30
   invoke_syscall+0x4c/0x110
   ...

The issue can also be observed by opening the card with arecord and
then stopping the process through the shell before unbinding:

  # arecord -D hw:UAC2Gadget -f S32_LE -c 2 -r 48000 /dev/null
  Recording WAVE '/dev/null' : Signed 32 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Stereo
  ^Z[1]+  Stopped                    arecord -D hw:UAC2Gadget -f S32_LE -c 2 -r 48000 /dev/null
  # echo gadget.0 > /sys/bus/gadget/drivers/configfs-gadget/unbind
  (observe that the unbind command never finishes)

Fix the problem by using snd_card_free_when_closed() instead, which will
still disconnect the card as desired, but defer the task of freeing the
resources to the core once userspace closes its file descriptor.

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53045?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53045?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53045 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53045 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-2023-53045 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53045 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 May 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-2023-53045 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-2023-53045/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53045/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53045
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53045
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53045

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53045/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.