CVE-2023-53391 shmem: use ramfs_kill_sb() for kill_sb method of ramfs-based tmpfs

What is CVE-2023-53391?

CVE-2023-53391 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 Sep 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:

shmem: use ramfs_kill_sb() for kill_sb method of ramfs-based tmpfs

As the ramfs-based tmpfs uses ramfs_init_fs_context() for the init_fs_context method, which allocates fc->s_fs_info, use ramfs_kill_sb() to free it and avoid a memory leak.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53391?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-53391?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2023-53391 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53391 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-2023-53391, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53391, GHSA-mxch-j2wj-hmc8, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53391.