CVE-2023-53529 | wifi: rtw88: Fix memory leak in rtw88_usb

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: rtw88: Fix memory leak in rtw88_usb Kmemleak shows the following leak arising from routine in the usb probe routine: unreferenced object 0xffff895cb29bba00 (size 512): comm "(udev-worker)", pid 534, jiffies 4294903932 (age 102751.088s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 77 30 30 30 00 00 00 00 02 2f 2d 2b 30 00 00 00 w000...../-+0... 02 00 2a 28 00 00 00 00 ff 55 ff ff ff 00 00 00 ..*(.....U...... backtrace: [<ffffffff9265fa36>] kmalloc_trace+0x26/0x90 [<ffffffffc17eec41>] rtw_usb_probe+0x2f1/0x680 [rtw_usb] [<ffffffffc03e19fd>] usb_probe_interface+0xdd/0x2e0 [usbcore] [<ffffffff92b4f2fe>] really_probe+0x18e/0x3d0 [<ffffffff92b4f5b8>] __driver_probe_device+0x78/0x160 [<ffffffff92b4f6bf>] driver_probe_device+0x1f/0x90 [<ffffffff92b4f8df>] __driver_attach+0xbf/0x1b0 [<ffffffff92b4d350>] bus_for_each_dev+0x70/0xc0 [<ffffffff92b4e51e>] bus_add_driver+0x10e/0x210 [<ffffffff92b50935>] driver_register+0x55/0xf0 [<ffffffffc03e0708>] usb_register_driver+0x88/0x140 [usbcore] [<ffffffff92401153>] do_one_initcall+0x43/0x210 [<ffffffff9254f42a>] do_init_module+0x4a/0x200 [<ffffffff92551d1c>] __do_sys_finit_module+0xac/0x120 [<ffffffff92ee6626>] do_syscall_64+0x56/0x80 [<ffffffff9300006a>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 The leak was verified to be real by unloading the driver, which resulted in a dangling pointer to the allocation. The allocated memory is freed in rtw_usb_intf_deinit().

Published: 2025-10-01 Last update: 2026-01-23 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53529 is rated Low Risk (23.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-53529

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-10-01 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53529

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53529

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53529

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53529 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3, open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-53529
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53529
suse low CVE-2023-53529 severity low: SUSE including 25 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 144 product×package rows across 30 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching 12 SP5, … (30 product lines)): Known Not Affected 144. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53529/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53529 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 88, needed 75, not-affected 72. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53529

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53529

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.2, < 6.3.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53529

cvelogic Threat Intelligence