What is CVE-2023-53637?

CVE-2023-53637 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, classified as a Memory Leak flaw (CWE-401), affecting Linux kernel versions from 4.17 onward and patched in 4.19.276, 5.4.235, 5.10.173 and others. CVE-2023-53637 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-53637?

CVE-2023-53637 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2023-53637?

Yes, CVE-2023-53637 has been patched. Fixed versions include 4.19.276, 5.4.235, 5.10.173 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.17 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2023-53637 actively exploited?

CVE-2023-53637 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is Memory Leak (CWE-401)?

The product does not release memory after use, causing gradual resource exhaustion. See MITRE CWE for full details: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/401.html

CVE-2023-53637

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: i2c: ov772x: Fix memleak in ov772x_probe() A memory leak was reported when testing ov772x with bpf mock device: AssertionError: unreferenced object 0xffff888109afa7a8 (size 8): comm "python3", pid 279, jiffies 4294805921 (age 20.681s) hex dump (first 8 bytes): 80 22 88 15 81 88 ff ff ."...... backtrace: [<000000009990b438>] __kmalloc_node+0x44/0x1b0 [<000000009e32f7d7>] kvmalloc_node+0x34/0x180 [<00000000faf48134>] v4l2_ctrl_handler_init_class+0x11d/0x180 [videodev] [<00000000da376937>] ov772x_probe+0x1c3/0x68c [ov772x] [<000000003f0d225e>] i2c_device_probe+0x28d/0x680 [<00000000e0b6db89>] really_probe+0x17c/0x3f0 [<000000001b19fcee>] __driver_probe_device+0xe3/0x170 [<0000000048370519>] driver_probe_device+0x49/0x120 [<000000005ead07a0>] __device_attach_driver+0xf7/0x150 [<0000000043f452b8>] bus_for_each_drv+0x114/0x180 [<00000000358e5596>] __device_attach+0x1e5/0x2d0 [<0000000043f83c5d>] bus_probe_device+0x126/0x140 [<00000000ee0f3046>] device_add+0x810/0x1130 [<00000000e0278184>] i2c_new_client_device+0x359/0x4f0 [<0000000070baf34f>] of_i2c_register_device+0xf1/0x110 [<00000000a9f2159d>] of_i2c_notify+0x100/0x160 unreferenced object 0xffff888119825c00 (size 256): comm "python3", pid 279, jiffies 4294805921 (age 20.681s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 b4 a5 17 81 88 ff ff 00 5e 82 19 81 88 ff ff .........^...... 10 5c 82 19 81 88 ff ff 10 5c 82 19 81 88 ff ff .\.......\...... backtrace: [<000000009990b438>] __kmalloc_node+0x44/0x1b0 [<000000009e32f7d7>] kvmalloc_node+0x34/0x180 [<0000000073d88e0b>] v4l2_ctrl_new.cold+0x19b/0x86f [videodev] [<00000000b1f576fb>] v4l2_ctrl_new_std+0x16f/0x210 [videodev] [<00000000caf7ac99>] ov772x_probe+0x1fa/0x68c [ov772x] [<000000003f0d225e>] i2c_device_probe+0x28d/0x680 [<00000000e0b6db89>] really_probe+0x17c/0x3f0 [<000000001b19fcee>] __driver_probe_device+0xe3/0x170 [<0000000048370519>] driver_probe_device+0x49/0x120 [<000000005ead07a0>] __device_attach_driver+0xf7/0x150 [<0000000043f452b8>] bus_for_each_drv+0x114/0x180 [<00000000358e5596>] __device_attach+0x1e5/0x2d0 [<0000000043f83c5d>] bus_probe_device+0x126/0x140 [<00000000ee0f3046>] device_add+0x810/0x1130 [<00000000e0278184>] i2c_new_client_device+0x359/0x4f0 [<0000000070baf34f>] of_i2c_register_device+0xf1/0x110 The reason is that if priv->hdl.error is set, ov772x_probe() jumps to the error_mutex_destroy without doing v4l2_ctrl_handler_free(), and all resources allocated in v4l2_ctrl_handler_init() and v4l2_ctrl_new_std() are leaked.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2025-10-07

Last modified 2026-02-03

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

5.5

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

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

Weakness type

CWE-401

CVE-2023-53637 is a Memory Leak vulnerability

What is Memory Leak?

The product does not release memory after use, causing gradual resource exhaustion. Learn more on MITRE CWE

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 4.17 and later are affected. Fixed in 4.19.276, 5.4.235, 5.10.173, 5.15.99, 6.1.16, 6.2.3, 6.3 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 4.17

Fixed in

✓ 4.19.276 4.19.x ✓ 5.4.235 5.4.x ✓ 5.10.173 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.99 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.16 6.1.x ✓ 6.2.3 6.2.x ✓ 6.3

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2023-53637 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1da495101ef7507eb4f4b1dbec2874d740eff251
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/448ce1cd50387b1345ec14eb191ef05f7afc2a26
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7485edb2b6ca5960205c0a49bedfd09bba30e521
Patch

7 patch commits total View all on NVD

Details

CVE ID CVE-2023-53637

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2025-10-07

Modified 2026-02-03

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-53637?

CVE-2023-53637 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 , classified as a Memory Leak flaw (CWE-401) . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.17 onward and has been patched in 4.19.276, 5.4.235, 5.10.173 and others. CVE-2023-53637 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-53637?

CVE-2023-53637 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2023-53637?

Yes — CVE-2023-53637 has been patched. Fixed versions include 4.19.276, 5.4.235, 5.10.173 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.17 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2023-53637 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2023-53637 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
What is Memory Leak (CWE-401)?

The product does not release memory after use, causing gradual resource exhaustion. View CWE-401 on MITRE CWE →