CVE-2023-53014
📋 TL;DR
A memory leak vulnerability in the Linux kernel's Tegra DMA engine driver allows attackers to cause denial of service through resource exhaustion. This affects systems using NVIDIA Tegra processors with the affected kernel driver. The vulnerability occurs when terminating DMA transfers, leading to unreleased memory allocations.
💻 Affected Systems
- Linux kernel with Tegra DMA engine driver
📦 What is this software?
Linux Kernel by Linux
The Linux Kernel is the core component of the Linux operating system, serving as the critical interface between computer hardware and software processes. As the heart of millions of servers, cloud infrastructure, embedded systems, Android devices, and IoT deployments worldwide, the Linux Kernel mana...
Learn more about Linux Kernel →Linux Kernel by Linux
The Linux Kernel is the core component of the Linux operating system, serving as the critical interface between computer hardware and software processes. As the heart of millions of servers, cloud infrastructure, embedded systems, Android devices, and IoT deployments worldwide, the Linux Kernel mana...
Learn more about Linux Kernel →Linux Kernel by Linux
The Linux Kernel is the core component of the Linux operating system, serving as the critical interface between computer hardware and software processes. As the heart of millions of servers, cloud infrastructure, embedded systems, Android devices, and IoT deployments worldwide, the Linux Kernel mana...
Learn more about Linux Kernel →Linux Kernel by Linux
The Linux Kernel is the core component of the Linux operating system, serving as the critical interface between computer hardware and software processes. As the heart of millions of servers, cloud infrastructure, embedded systems, Android devices, and IoT deployments worldwide, the Linux Kernel mana...
Learn more about Linux Kernel →Linux Kernel by Linux
The Linux Kernel is the core component of the Linux operating system, serving as the critical interface between computer hardware and software processes. As the heart of millions of servers, cloud infrastructure, embedded systems, Android devices, and IoT deployments worldwide, the Linux Kernel mana...
Learn more about Linux Kernel →⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Sustained exploitation could exhaust kernel memory, causing system instability, crashes, or denial of service affecting all running processes.
Likely Case
Local attackers could degrade system performance or cause targeted service disruptions by repeatedly triggering the memory leak condition.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and monitoring, impact is limited to performance degradation rather than complete system failure.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires local access to trigger DMA operations that can be terminated to cause the memory leak.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Kernel versions with commits 567128076d55 and a7a7ee6f5a01
Vendor Advisory: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/567128076d554e41609c61b7d447089094ff72c5
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update Linux kernel to version containing the fix commits. 2. Reboot system to load patched kernel. 3. Verify tegra-dma driver is using patched code.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Tegra DMA engine
linuxPrevent loading of vulnerable tegra-dma driver module
echo 'blacklist tegra-dma' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
rmmod tegra-dma
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict local user access to systems with Tegra processors
- Implement memory usage monitoring and alerts for abnormal kernel memory consumption
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if tegra-dma driver is loaded: lsmod | grep tegra-dma AND check kernel version against patched versionsCheck Version:
uname -rVerify Fix Applied:
Verify kernel version includes fix commits and tegra-dma driver loads without errors📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Kernel oom-killer messages
- Abnormal memory usage in /proc/meminfo
- System instability logs
Network Indicators:
- None - local vulnerability only
SIEM Query:
source="kernel" AND ("oom" OR "out of memory" OR "memory leak")