Linux Kernel up to 6.5.2 coresight acpi_get_dsd_graph memory leak

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.5.2 and classified as critical. This affects the function acpi_get_dsd_graph of the component coresight. This manipulation causes memory leak. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2023-53261. No exploit is available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.5.2. Affected by this vulnerability is the function acpi_get_dsd_graph of the component coresight. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: coresight: Fix memory leak in acpi_buffer->pointer There are memory leaks reported by kmemleak: ... unreferenced object 0xffff00213c141000 (size 1024): comm "systemd-udevd", pid 2123, jiffies 4294909467 (age 6062.160s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 04 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 18 10 14 3c 21 00 ff ff ...........<!... 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [<000000004b7c9001>] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x2f8/0x348 [<00000000b0fc7ceb>] __kmalloc+0x58/0x108 [<0000000064ff4695>] acpi_os_allocate+0x2c/0x68 [<000000007d57d116>] acpi_ut_initialize_buffer+0x54/0xe0 [<0000000024583908>] acpi_evaluate_object+0x388/0x438 [<0000000017b2e72b>] acpi_evaluate_object_typed+0xe8/0x240 [<000000005df0eac2>] coresight_get_platform_data+0x1b4/0x988 [coresight] ... The ACPI buffer memory (buf.pointer) should be freed. But the buffer is also used after returning from acpi_get_dsd_graph(). Move the temporary variables buf to acpi_coresight_parse_graph(), and free it before the function return to prevent memory leak.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-53261 since 09/15/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 270738 (openSUSE 15 Security Update : kernel (SUSE-SU-2025:03634-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.5.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch d1b60e7c9fee34eaedf1fc4e0471f75b33f83a4a/1a9e02673e2550f5612099e64e8761f0c8fc0f50 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (270738) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2053). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway
• F5 F5OS

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.5.0
• 6.5.1
• 6.5.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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