Linux Kernel up to 5.10.172/5.15.98/6.1.15/6.2.2 crypto use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.172/5.15.98/6.1.15/6.2.2. It has been classified as critical. Affected is an unknown function of the component crypto. This manipulation causes use after free. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2023-53494. There is not any exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.172/5.15.98/6.1.15/6.2.2. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown code block of the component crypto. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: crypto: xts - Handle EBUSY correctly As it is xts only handles the special return value of EINPROGRESS, which means that in all other cases it will free data related to the request. However, as the caller of xts may specify MAY_BACKLOG, we also need to expect EBUSY and treat it in the same way. Otherwise backlogged requests will trigger a use-after-free.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-53494 since 10/01/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/17/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 271731 (CentOS 9 : kernel-5.14.0-630.el9), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.10.173, 5.15.99, 6.1.16 or 6.2.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 92a07ba4f0af2cccdc2aa5ee32679c9c9714db90/912eb10b65646ffd222256c78a1c566a3dac177d/57c3e1d63b63dc0841d41df729297cd7c1c35808/d5870848879291700fe6c5257dcb48aadd10425c/51c082514c2dedf2711c99d93c196cc4eedceb40 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 (271731), EUVD (EUVD-2025-32789) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2187). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.172
• 5.15.0
• 5.15.1
• 5.15.2
• 5.15.3
• 5.15.4
• 5.15.5
• 5.15.6
• 5.15.7
• 5.15.8
• 5.15.9
• 5.15.10
• 5.15.11
• 5.15.12
• 5.15.13
• 5.15.14
• 5.15.15
• 5.15.16
• 5.15.17
• 5.15.18
• 5.15.19
• 5.15.20
• 5.15.21
• 5.15.22
• 5.15.23
• 5.15.24
• 5.15.25
• 5.15.26
• 5.15.27
• 5.15.28
• 5.15.29
• 5.15.30
• 5.15.31
• 5.15.32
• 5.15.33
• 5.15.34
• 5.15.35
• 5.15.36
• 5.15.37
• 5.15.38
• 5.15.39
• 5.15.40
• 5.15.41
• 5.15.42
• 5.15.43
• 5.15.44
• 5.15.45
• 5.15.46
• 5.15.47
• 5.15.48
• 5.15.49
• 5.15.50
• 5.15.51
• 5.15.52
• 5.15.53
• 5.15.54
• 5.15.55
• 5.15.56
• 5.15.57
• 5.15.58
• 5.15.59
• 5.15.60
• 5.15.61
• 5.15.62
• 5.15.63
• 5.15.64
• 5.15.65
• 5.15.66
• 5.15.67
• 5.15.68
• 5.15.69
• 5.15.70
• 5.15.71
• 5.15.72
• 5.15.73
• 5.15.74
• 5.15.75
• 5.15.76
• 5.15.77
• 5.15.78
• 5.15.79
• 5.15.80
• 5.15.81
• 5.15.82
• 5.15.83
• 5.15.84
• 5.15.85
• 5.15.86
• 5.15.87
• 5.15.88
• 5.15.89
• 5.15.90
• 5.15.91
• 5.15.92
• 5.15.93
• 5.15.94
• 5.15.95
• 5.15.96
• 5.15.97
• 5.15.98
• 6.1.0
• 6.1.1
• 6.1.2
• 6.1.3
• 6.1.4
• 6.1.5
• 6.1.6
• 6.1.7
• 6.1.8
• 6.1.9
• 6.1.10
• 6.1.11
• 6.1.12
• 6.1.13
• 6.1.14
• 6.1.15
• 6.2.0
• 6.2.1
• 6.2.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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