CVE-2023-53298 [Medium] | Information Disclosure in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfc: fix memory leak of se_io context in nfc_genl_se_io The callback context for sending/receiving APDUs to/from the selected secure element is allocated inside nfc_genl_se_io and supposed to be eventually freed in se_io_cb callback function. However, there are several error paths where the bwi_timer is not charged to call se_io_cb later, and the cb_context is leaked. The patch proposes to free the cb_context explicitly on those error paths. At the moment we can't simply check 'dev->ops->se_io()' return value as it may be negative in both cases: when the timer was charged and was not.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-09-16	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2025-09-16

—

0.02%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	3.6	134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

3.6

[email protected]

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

3.6

134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53298

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2023-53298 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-53298
`redhat`	—	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53298
`suse`	medium	—	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53298/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2023-53298 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 162, released 138, not-affected 77, needed 19, needs-triage 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53298

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53298

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 3.13, < 4.14.308	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 4.15, < 4.19.276	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 4.20, < 5.4.235	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.5, < 5.10.173	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.11, < 5.15.100	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.16, < 6.1.18	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.2, < 6.2.5	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::

References for CVE-2023-53298

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/25ff6f8a5a3b8dc48e8abda6f013e8cc4b14ffea	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/271eed1736426103335c5aac50f15b0f4d236bc0	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5321da6d84b87a34eea441677d649c34bd854169	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8978315cb4bf8878c9c8ec05dafd8f7ff539860d	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/af452e35b9e6a87cd49e54a7a3d60d934b194651	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b2036a252381949d3b743a3de069324ae3028a57	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ba98db08895748c12e5ded52cd1598dce2c79e55	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c494365432dcdc549986f4d9af9eb6190cbdb153	Patch

URL

CVE-2023-53298 | nfc: fix memory leak of se_io context in nfc_genl_se_io

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-53298

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53298

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53298

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53298

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53298

References for CVE-2023-53298