CVE-2023-53637 media: i2c: ov772x: Fix memleak in ov772x_probe()
A memory leak in the ov772x camera driver probe function 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-2023-53637?
CVE-2023-53637 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 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:
media: i2c: ov772x: Fix memleak in ov772x_probe()
A memory leak was reported when testing ov772x with bpf mock device:
AssertionError: unreferenced object 0xffff888109afa7a8 (size 8): comm "python3", pid 279, jiffies 4294805921 (age 20.681s) hex dump (first 8 bytes): 80 22 88 15 81 88 ff ff ."...... backtrace: [<000000009990b438>] __kmalloc_node+0x44/0x1b0 [<000000009e32f7d7>] kvmalloc_node+0x34/0x180 [<00000000faf48134>] v4l2_ctrl_handler_init_class+0x11d/0x180 [videodev] [<00000000da376937>] ov772x_probe+0x1c3/0x68c [ov772x] [<000000003f0d225e>] i2c_device_probe+0x28d/0x680 [<00000000e0b6db89>] really_probe+0x17c/0x3f0 [<000000001b19fcee>] __driver_probe_device+0xe3/0x170 [<0000000048370519>] driver_probe_device+0x49/0x120 [<000000005ead07a0>] __device_attach_driver+0xf7/0x150 [<0000000043f452b8>] bus_for_each_drv+0x114/0x180 [<00000000358e5596>] __device_attach+0x1e5/0x2d0 [<0000000043f83c5d>] bus_probe_device+0x126/0x140 [<00000000ee0f3046>] device_add+0x810/0x1130 [<00000000e0278184>] i2c_new_client_device+0x359/0x4f0 [<0000000070baf34f>] of_i2c_register_device+0xf1/0x110 [<00000000a9f2159d>] of_i2c_notify+0x100/0x160 unreferenced object 0xffff888119825c00 (size 256): comm "python3", pid 279, jiffies 4294805921 (age 20.681s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 b4 a5 17 81 88 ff ff 00 5e 82 19 81 88 ff ff .........^...... 10 5c 82 19 81 88 ff ff 10 5c 82 19 81 88 ff ff .\.......\...... backtrace: [<000000009990b438>] __kmalloc_node+0x44/0x1b0 [<000000009e32f7d7>] kvmalloc_node+0x34/0x180 [<0000000073d88e0b>] v4l2_ctrl_new.cold+0x19b/0x86f [videodev] [<00000000b1f576fb>] v4l2_ctrl_new_std+0x16f/0x210 [videodev] [<00000000caf7ac99>] ov772x_probe+0x1fa/0x68c [ov772x] [<000000003f0d225e>] i2c_device_probe+0x28d/0x680 [<00000000e0b6db89>] really_probe+0x17c/0x3f0 [<000000001b19fcee>] __driver_probe_device+0xe3/0x170 [<0000000048370519>] driver_probe_device+0x49/0x120 [<000000005ead07a0>] __device_attach_driver+0xf7/0x150 [<0000000043f452b8>] bus_for_each_drv+0x114/0x180 [<00000000358e5596>] __device_attach+0x1e5/0x2d0 [<0000000043f83c5d>] bus_probe_device+0x126/0x140 [<00000000ee0f3046>] device_add+0x810/0x1130 [<00000000e0278184>] i2c_new_client_device+0x359/0x4f0 [<0000000070baf34f>] of_i2c_register_device+0xf1/0x110
The reason is that if priv->hdl.error is set, ov772x_probe() jumps to the error_mutex_destroy without doing v4l2_ctrl_handler_free(), and all resources allocated in v4l2_ctrl_handler_init() and v4l2_ctrl_new_std() are leaked.
Weakness: CWE-401
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53637?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53637?
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-2023-53637 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53637 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53637, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53637, GHSA-9w73-69h2-5rjg, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53637.