# CVE-2023-53596: drivers: base: Free devm resources when unregistering a device

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel device driver core can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service when unregistering bus-less or driver-less devices.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 4 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 1 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53596, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53596, GHSA-66x2-rpwx-fjfr, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53596, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53596, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53596

## What is CVE-2023-53596?

CVE-2023-53596 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 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:

drivers: base: Free devm resources when unregistering a device

In the current code, devres_release_all() only gets called if the device
has a bus and has been probed.

This leads to issues when using bus-less or driver-less devices where
the device might never get freed if a managed resource holds a reference
to the device. This is happening in the DRM framework for example.

We should thus call devres_release_all() in the device_del() function to
make sure that the device-managed actions are properly executed when the
device is unregistered, even if it has neither a bus nor a driver.

This is effectively the same change than commit 2f8d16a996da ("devres:
release resources on device_del()") that got reverted by commit
a525a3ddeaca ("driver core: free devres in device_release") over
memory leaks concerns.

This patch effectively combines the two commits mentioned above to
release the resources both on device_del() and device_release() and get
the best of both worlds.

Weakness: CWE-415 (Double Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53596?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53596?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53596 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53596 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-2023-53596 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53596 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 4 Oct 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-2023-53596 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-2023-53596/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53596/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53596
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53596
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53596

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53596/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.