Race Condition Vulnerability in Linux Kernel Affecting AMD IOMMU

CVE-2023-53501

What is CVE-2023-53501?

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's IOMMU code for AMD processors can lead to a race condition during the unbinding of a PASID (Process Address Space ID). This issue arises because the reference count of the pasid_state object can reach zero prematurely, resulting in a warning about potential memory leaks. The problem is mitigated by adjusting the reference counting mechanism to ensure that memory management is handled properly, preventing the reference count from erroneously decrementing to zero.

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