CVE-2023-53460 wifi: rtw88: fix memory leak in rtw_usb_probe()
A memory leak in the Realtek rtw88 USB Wi-Fi driver 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-2023-53460?
CVE-2023-53460 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Oct 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:
wifi: rtw88: fix memory leak in rtw_usb_probe()
drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw88/usb.c:876 rtw_usb_probe() warn: 'hw' from ieee80211_alloc_hw() not released on lines: 811
Fix this by modifying return to a goto statement.
Weakness: CWE-401
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53460?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53460?
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-2023-53460 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53460 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53460, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53460, GHSA-qhcv-7g4x-gf9r, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53460, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2023-53460, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53460 and 1 more.