CVE-2023-53816 drm/amdkfd: fix potential kgd_mem UAFs
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's AMD GPU driver allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges.
- 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-2023-53816?
CVE-2023-53816 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 9 Dec 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:
drm/amdkfd: fix potential kgd_mem UAFs
kgd_mem pointers returned by kfd_process_device_translate_handle are only guaranteed to be valid while p->mutex is held. As soon as the mutex is unlocked, another thread can free the BO.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53816?
How do I fix CVE-2023-53816?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2023-53816 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53816 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53816, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53816, GHSA-rqmv-mc92-m7mr, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53816, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53816, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53816.