CVE-2023-54115
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
pcmcia: rsrc_nonstatic: Fix memory leak in nonstatic_release_resource_db()
When nonstatic_release_resource_db() frees all resources associated with an PCMCIA socket, it forgets to free socket_data too, causing a memory leak observable with kmemleak:
unreferenced object 0xc28d1000 (size 64): comm "systemd-udevd", pid 297, jiffies 4294898478 (age 194.484s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f0 85 0e c3 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 0c 10 8d c2 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x2d7/0x4a0 [<7e51f0c8>] kmalloc_trace+0x31/0xa4 [] nonstatic_init+0x24/0x1a4 [pcmcia_rsrc] [] pcmcia_register_socket+0x200/0x35c [pcmcia_core] [] yenta_probe+0x4d8/0xa70 [yenta_socket] [] pci_device_probe+0x99/0x194 [<84b7c690>] really_probe+0x181/0x45c [<8060fe6e>] __driver_probe_device+0x75/0x1f4 [] driver_probe_device+0x28/0xac [<648b766f>] __driver_attach+0xeb/0x1e4 [<6e9659eb>] bus_for_each_dev+0x61/0xb4 [<25a669f3>] driver_attach+0x1e/0x28 [] bus_add_driver+0x102/0x20c [] driver_register+0x5b/0x120 [<942cd8a4>] __pci_register_driver+0x44/0x4c [] __UNIQUE_ID___addressable_cleanup_module188+0x1c/0xfffff000 [iTCO_vendor_support]
Fix this by freeing socket_data too.
Tested on a Acer Travelmate 4002WLMi by manually binding/unbinding the yenta_cardbus driver (yenta_socket).
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
Memory leak in Linux kernel's PCMCIA resource database release function due to missing free of socket_data.
A memory leak vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's PCMCIA subsystem, specifically in the nonstatic_release_resource_db() function within drivers/pcmcia/rsrc_nonstatic.c. The function releases all resources associated with a PCMCIA socket but fails to free the socket_data structure, causing a memory leak that is observable with kmemleak.
The leak can be triggered during normal PCMCIA socket registration and deregistration, such as when the yenta_cardbus driver is manually bound and unbound. No special privileges are required; any process that can trigger socket events can exploit this vulnerability.
An attacker could potentially exhaust kernel memory by repeatedly performing bind/unbind cycles, leading to a denial-of-service condition. The leak was confirmed through testing on hardware like the Acer Travelmate 4002WLMi.
The fix involves adding a kfree(socket_data) call in nonstatic_release_resource_db(), ensuring the allocated memory is properly freed. Patches have been applied to the Linux kernel stable branches as per the referenced commits [1][2][3].
AI Insight generated on May 19, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Patches
8bde0b6da7bd82d45e2be0be322100df1d57f04bb8af40a7797fd1c8e9c5ae8a80cf06b4bfd53a1f28fabc85fd9422fe0Vulnerability mechanics
Generated on May 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
8- git.kernel.org/stable/c/04bb8af40a7729c398ed4caea7e66cedd2881719nvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/22100df1d57f04cf2370d5347b9ef547f481deeanvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d45e2be0be35a3d66863563ed2591ee18a6897envd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/97fd1c8e9c5aa833aab7e836760bc13103afa892nvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/bde0b6da7bd893c37afaee3555cc3ac3be582313nvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/c85fd9422fe0f5d667305efb27f56d09eab120b0nvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/e8a80cf06b4bb0396212289d651b384c949f09d0nvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd53a1f28faba2c4806c055e706a7721006291c1nvd
News mentions
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