CVE-2023-53700 media: max9286: Fix memleak in max9286_v4l2_register()
A memory leak in the Linux kernel max9286 driver allows local attackers to cause resource exhaustion and denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-53700?
CVE-2023-53700 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 22 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: max9286: Fix memleak in max9286_v4l2_register()
There is a kmemleak when testing the media/i2c/max9286.c with bpf mock device:
kmemleak: 5 new suspected memory leaks (see /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak)
unreferenced object 0xffff88810defc400 (size 256): comm "python3", pid 278, jiffies 4294737563 (age 31.978s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 28 06 a7 0a 81 88 ff ff 00 fe 22 12 81 88 ff ff (........."..... 10 c4 ef 0d 81 88 ff ff 10 c4 ef 0d 81 88 ff ff ................ backtrace: [<00000000191de6a7>] __kmalloc_node+0x44/0x1b0 [<000000002f4912b7>] kvmalloc_node+0x34/0x180 [<0000000057dc4cae>] v4l2_ctrl_new+0x325/0x10f0 [videodev] [<0000000026030272>] v4l2_ctrl_new_std+0x16f/0x210 [videodev] [<00000000f0d9ea2f>] max9286_probe+0x76e/0xbff [max9286] [<00000000ea8f6455>] i2c_device_probe+0x28d/0x680 [<0000000087529af3>] really_probe+0x17c/0x3f0 [<00000000b08be526>] __driver_probe_device+0xe3/0x170 [<000000004382edea>] driver_probe_device+0x49/0x120 [<000000007bde528a>] __device_attach_driver+0xf7/0x150 [<000000009f9c6ab4>] bus_for_each_drv+0x114/0x180 [<00000000c8aaf588>] __device_attach+0x1e5/0x2d0 [<0000000041cc06b9>] bus_probe_device+0x126/0x140 [<000000002309860d>] device_add+0x810/0x1130 [<000000002827bf98>] i2c_new_client_device+0x359/0x4f0 [<00000000593bdc85>] of_i2c_register_device+0xf1/0x110
max9286_v4l2_register() calls v4l2_ctrl_new_std(), but won't free the created v412_ctrl when fwnode_graph_get_endpoint_by_id() failed, which causes the memleak. Call v4l2_ctrl_handler_free() to free the v412_ctrl.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53700?
How do I fix CVE-2023-53700?
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-2023-53700 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53700 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53700, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53700, GHSA-9vc2-g7hx-x44h, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53700.