CVE-2023-53852 nvme-core: fix memory leak in dhchap_secret_store
A memory leak in the Linux kernel NVMe driver allows local attackers to exhaust system memory, causing denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-53852?
CVE-2023-53852 is a memory corruption 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:
nvme-core: fix memory leak in dhchap_secret_store
Free dhchap_secret in nvme_ctrl_dhchap_secret_store() before we return fix following kmemleack:-
unreferenced object 0xffff8886376ea800 (size 64): comm "check", pid 22048, jiffies 4344316705 (age 92.199s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 44 48 48 43 2d 31 3a 30 30 3a 6e 78 72 35 4b 67 DHHC-1:00:nxr5Kg 75 58 34 75 6f 41 78 73 4a 61 34 63 2f 68 75 4c uX4uoAxsJa4c/huL backtrace: [<0000000030ce5d4b>] __kmalloc+0x4b/0x130 [<000000009be1cdc1>] nvme_ctrl_dhchap_secret_store+0x8f/0x160 [nvme_core] [<00000000ac06c96a>] kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x12b/0x1c0 [<00000000437e7ced>] vfs_write+0x2ba/0x3c0 [<00000000f9491baf>] ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0 [<000000001c46513d>] do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 [<00000000ecf348fe>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc unreferenced object 0xffff8886376eaf00 (size 64): comm "check", pid 22048, jiffies 4344316736 (age 92.168s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 44 48 48 43 2d 31 3a 30 30 3a 6e 78 72 35 4b 67 DHHC-1:00:nxr5Kg 75 58 34 75 6f 41 78 73 4a 61 34 63 2f 68 75 4c uX4uoAxsJa4c/huL backtrace: [<0000000030ce5d4b>] __kmalloc+0x4b/0x130 [<000000009be1cdc1>] nvme_ctrl_dhchap_secret_store+0x8f/0x160 [nvme_core] [<00000000ac06c96a>] kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x12b/0x1c0 [<00000000437e7ced>] vfs_write+0x2ba/0x3c0 [<00000000f9491baf>] ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0 [<000000001c46513d>] do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 [<00000000ecf348fe>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53852?
How do I fix CVE-2023-53852?
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-2023-53852 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53852 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53852, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53852, GHSA-6p7c-22m4-r5fq, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53852.