CVE-2023-53515: virtio-mmio: don't break lifecycle of vm_dev

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-10-01 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-416

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtio-mmio: don't break lifecycle of vm_dev vm_dev has a separate lifecycle because it has a 'struct device' embedded. Thus, having a release callback for it is correct. Allocating the vm_dev struct with devres totally breaks this protection, though. Instead of waiting for the vm_dev release callback, the memory is freed when the platform_device is removed. Resulting in a use-after-free when finally the callback is to be called. To easily see the problem, compile the kernel with CONFIG_DEBUG_KOBJECT_RELEASE and unbind with sysfs. The fix is easy, don't use devres in this case. Found during my research about object lifetime problems.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 4.15.1 before 4.19.293; from 4.20 before 5.4.255; from 5.5 before 5.10.192; from 5.11 before 5.15.128; from 5.16 before 6.1.47; from 6.2 before 6.4.12 — fixed in 4.19.293, 5.10.192, 5.15.128, 5.4.255, 6.1.47, 6.4.12

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 4.19.293, 5.10.192, 5.15.128, 5.4.255. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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