Vulnerability Database

374,078

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2023-53276 — linux / linux_kernel

Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ubifs: Free memory for tmpfile name

When opening a ubifs tmpfile on an encrypted directory, function fscrypt_setup_filename allocates memory for the name that is to be stored in the directory entry, but after the name has been copied to the directory entry inode, the memory is not freed.

When running kmemleak on it we see that it is registered as a leak. The report below is triggered by a simple program 'tmpfile' just opening a tmpfile:

unreferenced object 0xffff88810178f380 (size 32): comm "tmpfile", pid 509, jiffies 4294934744 (age 1524.742s) backtrace: __kmem_cache_alloc_node __kmalloc fscrypt_setup_filename ubifs_tmpfile vfs_tmpfile path_openat

Free this memory after it has been copied to the inode.

  • Published: Sep 16, 2025
  • Updated: Dec 4, 2025
  • CVE: CVE-2023-53276
  • Severity: Medium
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Medium
  • Score: 5.5
  • AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWEs:

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.