Answer in brief
CVE-2023-53641 records a Medium severity (CVSS 5.5) vulnerability in wifi: ath9k: hif_usb: fix memory leak of remain_skbs. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
Analysis pending evidence review
HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.
CVSS is 5.5. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.
Analysis status
Analysis pending evidence review
Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.
The current feed maps Linux/Linux (generic), Linux/Linux (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
| Product | Affected versions | Fixed versions |
|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | Not reported | Not reported |
| Package | Affected range | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| Linux/Linuxgeneric | >=fb9987d0f748c983bb795a86f47522313f701a08 <6719e3797ec52cd144c8a5ba8aaab36674800585 || >=fb9987d0f748c983bb795a86f47522313f701a08 <d9899318660791141ea6002fda5577b2c5d7386e || >=fb9987d0f748c983bb795a86f47522313f701a08 <320d760a35273aa815d58b57e4fd9ba5279a3489 || >=fb9987d0f748c983bb795a86f47522313f701a08 <59073060fe0950c6ecbe12bdc06469dcac62128d || >=fb9987d0f748c983bb795a86f47522313f701a08 <9b9356a3014123f0ce4b50d9278c1265173150ab || >=fb9987d0f748c983bb795a86f47522313f701a08 <f0931fc8f4b6847c72e170d2326861c0a081d680 || >=fb9987d0f748c983bb795a86f47522313f701a08 <8f02d538878c9b1501f624595eb22ee4e5e0ff84 || >=fb9987d0f748c983bb795a86f47522313f701a08 <7654cc03eb699297130b693ec34e25f77b17c947 | 6719e3797ec52cd144c8a5ba8aaab36674800585, d9899318660791141ea6002fda5577b2c5d7386e, 320d760a35273aa815d58b57e4fd9ba5279a3489, 59073060fe0950c6ecbe12bdc06469dcac62128d, 9b9356a3014123f0ce4b50d9278c1265173150ab, f0931fc8f4b6847c72e170d2326861c0a081d680, 8f02d538878c9b1501f624595eb22ee4e5e0ff84, 7654cc03eb699297130b693ec34e25f77b17c947 |
| Linux/Linuxgeneric | 2.6.35 | Not reported |
Published upstream
Oct 7, 2025
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordSource modified
Nov 5, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordFirst seen by HOL
Nov 5, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: ath9k: hif_usb: fix memory leak of remain_skbs hif_dev->remain_skb is allocated and used exclusively in ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream(). It is implied that an allocated remain_skb is processed and subsequently freed (in error paths) only during the next call of ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream(). So, if the urbs are deallocated between those two calls due to the device deinitialization or suspend, it is possible that ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream() is not called next time and the allocated remain_skb is leaked. Our local Syzkaller instance was able to trigger that. remain_skb makes sense when receiving two consecutive urbs which are logically linked together, i.e. a specific data field from the first skb indicates a cached skb to be allocated, memcpy'd with some data and subsequently processed in the next call to ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream(). Urbs deallocation supposedly makes that link irrelevant so we need to free the cached skb in those cases. Fix the leak by introducing a function to explicitly free remain_skb (if it is not NULL) when the rx urbs have been deallocated. remain_skb is NULL when it has not been allocated at all (hif_dev struct is kzalloced) or when it has been processed in next call to ath9k_hif_usb_rx_stream(). Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.
Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.