CVE-2023-53515

Published: October 2, 2025Last modified: October 2, 2025

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtio-mmio: don't break lifecycle of vm_dev vm_dev has a separate lifecycle because it has a 'struct device' embedded. Thus, having a release callback for it is correct. Allocating the vm_dev struct with devres totally breaks this protection, though. Instead of waiting for the vm_dev release callback, the memory is freed when the platform_device is removed. Resulting in a use-after-free when finally the callback is to be called. To easily see the problem, compile the kernel with CONFIG_DEBUG_KOBJECT_RELEASE and unbind with sysfs. The fix is easy, don't use devres in this case. Found during my research about object lifetime problems.

Status

ProductReleasePackageStatus
Alpaquita Linux23 LTSlinux-ltsFixed (6.1.50-r0)
25 LTSlinux-ltsNot affected (6.6.89-r0)
Streamlinux-ltsFixed (6.6.58-r0)

References

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