# CVE-2023-54208: media: ov5675: Fix memleak in ov5675_init_controls()

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel ov5675 camera driver allows local attackers to cause resource exhaustion and denial of service.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 30 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54208, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54208, GHSA-m6xf-27x7-x98g, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54208

## What is CVE-2023-54208?

CVE-2023-54208 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 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:

media: ov5675: Fix memleak in ov5675_init_controls()

There is a kmemleak when testing the media/i2c/ov5675.c with bpf mock
device:

AssertionError: unreferenced object 0xffff888107362160 (size 16):
  comm "python3", pid 277, jiffies 4294832798 (age 20.722s)
  hex dump (first 16 bytes):
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
  backtrace:
    [<00000000abe7d67c>] __kmalloc_node+0x44/0x1b0
    [<000000008a725aac>] kvmalloc_node+0x34/0x180
    [<000000009a53cd11>] v4l2_ctrl_handler_init_class+0x11d/0x180
[videodev]
    [<0000000055b46db0>] ov5675_probe+0x38b/0x897 [ov5675]
    [<00000000153d886c>] i2c_device_probe+0x28d/0x680
    [<000000004afb7e8f>] really_probe+0x17c/0x3f0
    [<00000000ff2f18e4>] __driver_probe_device+0xe3/0x170
    [<000000000a001029>] driver_probe_device+0x49/0x120
    [<00000000e39743c7>] __device_attach_driver+0xf7/0x150
    [<00000000d32fd070>] bus_for_each_drv+0x114/0x180
    [<000000009083ac41>] __device_attach+0x1e5/0x2d0
    [<0000000015b4a830>] bus_probe_device+0x126/0x140
    [<000000007813deaf>] device_add+0x810/0x1130
    [<000000007becb867>] i2c_new_client_device+0x386/0x540
    [<000000007f9cf4b4>] of_i2c_register_device+0xf1/0x110
    [<00000000ebfdd032>] of_i2c_notify+0xfc/0x1f0

ov5675_init_controls() won't clean all the allocated resources in fail
path, which may causes the memleaks. Add v4l2_ctrl_handler_free() to
prevent memleak.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54208?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54208?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54208 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54208 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54208 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54208 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 Dec 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-2023-54208 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2023-54208/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54208/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54208
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54208
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54208

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54208/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.