CVE-2023-53435 cassini: Fix a memory leak in the error handling path of cas_init_one()
A memory leak in the Cassini network driver's error handling path can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service.
- 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-2023-53435?
CVE-2023-53435 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:
cassini: Fix a memory leak in the error handling path of cas_init_one()
cas_saturn_firmware_init() allocates some memory using vmalloc(). This memory is freed in the .remove() function but not it the error handling path of the probe.
Add the missing vfree() to avoid a memory leak, should an error occur.
Weakness: CWE-401
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53435?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53435?
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-2023-53435 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53435 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53435, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53435, GHSA-qjh2-vwwm-cqj6, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53435.