Vulnerability · Published Dec 9, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-53854ASoC: mediatek: mt8186: Fix use-after-free in driver remove path

Unrated

In plain English

A security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 12% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS )–Not rated
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 87.5% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ASoC: mediatek: mt8186: Fix use-after-free in driver remove path When devm runs function in the "remove" path for a device it runs them in the reverse order. That means that if you have parts of your driver that aren't using devm or are using "roll your own" devm w/ devm_add_action_or_reset() you need to keep that in mind. The mt8186 audio driver didn't quite get this right. Specifically, in mt8186_init_clock() it called mt8186_audsys_clk_register() and then went on to call a bunch of other devm function. The caller of mt8186_init_clock() used devm_add_action_or_reset() to call mt8186_deinit_clock() but, because of the intervening devm functions, the order was wrong. Specifically at probe time, the order was: 1. mt8186_audsys_clk_register() 2. afe_priv->clk = devm_kcalloc(...) 3. afe_priv->clk[i] = devm_clk_get(...) At remove time, the order (which should have been 3, 2, 1) was: 1. mt8186_audsys_clk_unregister() 3. Free all of afe_priv->clk[i] 2. Free afe_priv->clk The above seemed to be causing a use-after-free. Luckily, it's easy to fix this by simply using devm more correctly. Let's move the devm_add_action_or_reset() to the right place. In addition to fixing the use-after-free, code inspection shows that this fixes a leak (missing call to mt8186_audsys_clk_unregister()) that would have happened if any of the syscon_regmap_lookup_by_phandle() calls in mt8186_init_clock() had failed.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.37-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53854
Debian:13linux6.3.7-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53854
Debian:14linux6.3.7-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53854

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 55b423d5623ccd6785429431c2cf5f3e073b73ba – before 3e56a1c04882852e3e7d6c59756a16211ebbc45755b423d5623ccd6785429431c2cf5f3e073b73ba – before dffd9e2b57cb845930fa885aa634a847ba2130dd55b423d5623ccd6785429431c2cf5f3e073b73ba – before a93d2afd3f77a7331271a0f25c6a11003db69b3c
Linux Linux 6.0

References