Bug 2396134 (CVE-2023-53341)

Summary: CVE-2023-53341 kernel: of/fdt: run soc memory setup when early_init_dt_scan_memory fails
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-09-17 15:03:19 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

of/fdt: run soc memory setup when early_init_dt_scan_memory fails

If memory has been found early_init_dt_scan_memory now returns 1. If
it hasn't found any memory it will return 0, allowing other memory
setup mechanisms to carry on.

Previously early_init_dt_scan_memory always returned 0 without
distinguishing between any kind of memory setup being done or not. Any
code path after the early_init_dt_scan memory call in the ramips
plat_mem_setup code wouldn't be executed anymore. Making
early_init_dt_scan_memory the only way to initialize the memory.

Some boards, including my mt7621 based Cudy X6 board, depend on memory
initialization being done via the soc_info.mem_detect function
pointer. Those wouldn't be able to obtain memory and panic the kernel
during early bootup with the message "early_init_dt_alloc_memory_arch:
Failed to allocate 12416 bytes align=0x40".
Comment 1 Jon Moroney 2025-09-17 18:23:47 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2025091718-CVE-2023-53341-896e@gregkh/T