CVE-2023-53096 interconnect: fix mem leak when freeing nodes

Medium 5.5 Published Updated

A memory leak in the Linux kernel interconnect subsystem allows attackers to cause a denial of service by exhausting system memory.

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

What is CVE-2023-53096?

CVE-2023-53096 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:

interconnect: fix mem leak when freeing nodes

The node link array is allocated when adding links to a node but is not deallocated when nodes are destroyed.

Weakness: CWE-401

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53096?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-53096?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2023-53096 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53096 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53096, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53096, GHSA-m6c2-fr93-335h, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53096.

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