Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2023-53221

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix memleak due to fentry attach failure If it fails to attach fentry, the allocated bpf trampoline image will be left in the system. That can be verified by checking /proc/kallsyms. This meamleak can be verified by a simple bpf program as follows: SEC("fentry/trap_init") int fentry_run() { return 0; } It will fail to attach trap_init because this function is freed after kernel init, and then we can find the trampoline image is left in the system by checking /proc/kallsyms. $ tail /proc/kallsyms ffffffffc0613000 t bpf_trampoline_6442453466_1 [bpf] ffffffffc06c3000 t bpf_trampoline_6442453466_1 [bpf] $ bpftool btf dump file /sys/kernel/btf/vmlinux | grep "FUNC 'trap_init'" [2522] FUNC 'trap_init' type_id=119 linkage=static $ echo $((6442453466 & 0x7fffffff)) 2522 Note that there are two left bpf trampoline images, that is because the libbpf will fallback to raw tracepoint if -EINVAL is returned.

EPSS: 0.001 (4.2th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-53221?
CVE-2023-53221 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-09-15.
How severe is CVE-2023-53221?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.