Vulnerability-Lookup

FKIE_CVE-2023-53997

Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2025-12-24 11:15 - Updated: 2026-08-04 10:19

Severity

7.8 (High) - CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: thermal: of: fix double-free on unregistration Since commit 3d439b1a2ad3 ("thermal/core: Alloc-copy-free the thermal zone parameters structure"), thermal_zone_device_register() allocates a copy of the tzp argument and frees it when unregistering, so thermal_of_zone_register() now ends up leaking its original tzp and double-freeing the tzp copy. Fix this by locating tzp on stack instead.

References

	URL	Tags
	416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac4436a5b20e0ef1f608a9ef46c08d5d142f8da6
	416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/adce49089412a9ae28f5c666e0bb12fbcd86b3f7

Impacted products

	Vendor	Product	Version

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/thermal/thermal_of.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "adce49089412a9ae28f5c666e0bb12fbcd86b3f7",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "3d439b1a2ad36c8b4ea151c8de25309d60d17407",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "ac4436a5b20e0ef1f608a9ef46c08d5d142f8da6",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "3d439b1a2ad36c8b4ea151c8de25309d60d17407",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/thermal/thermal_of.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "6.4"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "6.4",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.4.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.4.8",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.5",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    }
  ],
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nthermal: of: fix double-free on unregistration\n\nSince commit 3d439b1a2ad3 (\"thermal/core: Alloc-copy-free the thermal\nzone parameters structure\"), thermal_zone_device_register() allocates\na copy of the tzp argument and frees it when unregistering, so\nthermal_of_zone_register() now ends up leaking its original tzp and\ndouble-freeing the tzp copy. Fix this by locating tzp on stack instead."
    }
  ],
  "id": "CVE-2023-53997",
  "lastModified": "2026-08-04T10:19:25.227",
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "cvssData": {
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "attackVector": "LOCAL",
          "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
          "baseScore": 7.8,
          "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
          "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
          "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
          "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
          "scope": "UNCHANGED",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
          "version": "3.1"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 1.8,
        "impactScore": 5.9,
        "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "type": "Secondary"
      }
    ]
  },
  "published": "2025-12-24T11:15:52.607",
  "references": [
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac4436a5b20e0ef1f608a9ef46c08d5d142f8da6"
    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/adce49089412a9ae28f5c666e0bb12fbcd86b3f7"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
  "vulnStatus": "Deferred"
}

CVE-2023-53997 (GCVE-0-2023-53997)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2025-12-24 10:55 – Updated: 2026-08-05 09:16

Title

thermal: of: fix double-free on unregistration

Summary

Severity

7.8 (High)


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

Assigner

Linux mitre root

References

2 references

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/adce49089412a9ae2…
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac4436a5b20e0ef1f…

Impacted products

2 products

Vendor	Product	Version
Linux	Linux	Affected: 3d439b1a2ad36c8b4ea151c8de25309d60d17407 , < adce49089412a9ae28f5c666e0bb12fbcd86b3f7 (git) Affected: 3d439b1a2ad36c8b4ea151c8de25309d60d17407 , < ac4436a5b20e0ef1f608a9ef46c08d5d142f8da6 (git)
Linux	Linux	Affected: 6.4 Unaffected: 0 , < 6.4 (semver) Unaffected: 6.4.8 , ≤ 6.4.* (semver) Unaffected: 6.5 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/thermal/thermal_of.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "adce49089412a9ae28f5c666e0bb12fbcd86b3f7",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "3d439b1a2ad36c8b4ea151c8de25309d60d17407",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "ac4436a5b20e0ef1f608a9ef46c08d5d142f8da6",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "3d439b1a2ad36c8b4ea151c8de25309d60d17407",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/thermal/thermal_of.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "6.4"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "6.4",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.4.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.4.8",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.5",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
            {
              "cpeMatch": [
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.4.8",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.4",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.5",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.4",
                  "vulnerable": true
                }
              ],
              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nthermal: of: fix double-free on unregistration\n\nSince commit 3d439b1a2ad3 (\"thermal/core: Alloc-copy-free the thermal\nzone parameters structure\"), thermal_zone_device_register() allocates\na copy of the tzp argument and frees it when unregistering, so\nthermal_of_zone_register() now ends up leaking its original tzp and\ndouble-freeing the tzp copy. Fix this by locating tzp on stack instead."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 7.8,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          },
          "scenarios": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "AV:L - The double free is reached through local operations on the sensor device \u2014 sysfs driver unbind, module unload, or device removal \u2014 with no network-facing component anywhere on the path. No remote or adjacent protocol handler reaches `thermal_of_zone_unregister()`.\nAC:L - The `kfree(tzp)` after `thermal_zone_device_unregister()` already freed `tz-\u003etzp` executes unconditionally on every teardown; there is no race to win and no allocation failure required. Attacker-chosen zone geometry (trip count) further lets the freed object share `kmalloc-64` with `trips`, evading the naive freelist-hardening check.\nPR:L - Consistent with how driver-teardown and probe-unwind double frees are scored, this is treated as low-privilege rather than requiring full administrative rights; the corrupting free also occurs spontaneously on `thermal_zone_device_enable()` and devres error unwinding with no attacker privilege at all.\nUI:N - Driver unbind or module removal completes entirely without any victim action, and the probe/devres error-unwind variant needs no interaction whatsoever.\nS:U - The corruption stays inside the kernel\u0027s slab allocator and the compromise remains within the kernel\u0027s own security authority. No hypervisor, IOMMU, or sandbox boundary is crossed.\nC:H - The looping SLUB freelist hands the same `kmalloc-64` object to two independent owners, giving type confusion that permits reading arbitrary kernel data placed in the aliased allocation. Per kernel scoring guidance, memory corruption of this class is High confidentiality impact.\nI:H - The double free yields a classic freelist-corruption write primitive \u2014 the attacker can reclaim the aliased object with an attacker-controlled structure and overwrite kernel state, enabling control-flow hijack and privilege escalation. Out-of-band writes through a confused type are unbounded.\nA:H - With `CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_HARDENED` the second free hits `BUG_ON(object == fp)`, and with `SLUB_DEBUG`/KASAN it raises a fatal \"double free\" report \u2014 either way a kernel panic. Even undetected, the corrupted freelist reliably crashes the system shortly afterward."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-08-05T09:16:34.123Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/adce49089412a9ae28f5c666e0bb12fbcd86b3f7"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac4436a5b20e0ef1f608a9ef46c08d5d142f8da6"
        }
      ],
      "title": "thermal: of: fix double-free on unregistration",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2023-53997",
    "datePublished": "2025-12-24T10:55:34.077Z",
    "dateReserved": "2025-12-24T10:53:46.176Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-08-05T09:16:34.123Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base model, served locally by ML-Gateway. They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.

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