What is CVE-2023-53280?

CVE-2023-53280 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, classified as a NULL Pointer Dereference flaw (CWE-476), affecting Linux kernel versions from 4.14 onward and patched in 5.4.251, 5.10.188, 5.15.121 and others. CVE-2023-53280 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-53280?

CVE-2023-53280 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2023-53280?

Yes, CVE-2023-53280 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.4.251, 5.10.188, 5.15.121 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.14 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2023-53280 actively exploited?

CVE-2023-53280 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. See MITRE CWE for full details: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/476.html

CVE-2023-53280

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: qla2xxx: Remove unused nvme_ls_waitq wait queue System crash when qla2x00_start_sp(sp) returns error code EGAIN and wake_up gets called for uninitialized wait queue sp->nvme_ls_waitq. qla2xxx [0000:37:00.1]-2121:5: Returning existing qpair of ffff8ae2c0513400 for idx=0 qla2xxx [0000:37:00.1]-700e:5: qla2x00_start_sp failed = 11 BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000000 PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI Hardware name: HPE ProLiant DL360 Gen10/ProLiant DL360 Gen10, BIOS U32 09/03/2021 Workqueue: nvme-wq nvme_fc_connect_ctrl_work [nvme_fc] RIP: 0010:__wake_up_common+0x4c/0x190 RSP: 0018:ffff95f3e0cb7cd0 EFLAGS: 00010086 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8b08d3b26328 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000003 RDI: ffff8b08d3b26320 RBP: 0000000000000001 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffffffffffffe8 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: ffff95f3e0cb7a60 R12: ffff95f3e0cb7d20 R13: 0000000000000003 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8b2fdf6c0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 0000002f1e410002 CR4: 00000000007706e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: __wake_up_common_lock+0x7c/0xc0 qla_nvme_ls_req+0x355/0x4c0 [qla2xxx] ? __nvme_fc_send_ls_req+0x260/0x380 [nvme_fc] ? nvme_fc_send_ls_req.constprop.42+0x1a/0x45 [nvme_fc] ? nvme_fc_connect_ctrl_work.cold.63+0x1e3/0xa7d [nvme_fc] Remove unused nvme_ls_waitq wait queue. nvme_ls_waitq logic was removed previously in the commits tagged Fixed: below.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2025-09-16

Last modified 2026-01-14

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

5.5

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness type

CWE-476

CVE-2023-53280 is a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability

What is NULL Pointer Dereference?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. Learn more on MITRE CWE

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 4.14 and later are affected. Fixed in 5.4.251, 5.10.188, 5.15.121, 6.1.40, 6.4.5, 6.5 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 4.14

Fixed in

✓ 5.4.251 5.4.x ✓ 5.10.188 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.121 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.40 6.1.x ✓ 6.4.5 6.4.x ✓ 6.5

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2023-53280 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0b1ce92fabdb7d02ddf8641230a06e2752ae5baa
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/20fce500b232b970e40312a9c97e7f3b6d7a709c
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/522ee1b3030f3b6b5fd59489d12b4ca767c9e5da
Patch

6 patch commits total View all on NVD

Details

CVE ID CVE-2023-53280

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2025-09-16

Modified 2026-01-14

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-53280?

CVE-2023-53280 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 , classified as a NULL Pointer Dereference flaw (CWE-476) . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.14 onward and has been patched in 5.4.251, 5.10.188, 5.15.121 and others. CVE-2023-53280 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-53280?

CVE-2023-53280 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2023-53280?

Yes — CVE-2023-53280 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.4.251, 5.10.188, 5.15.121 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.14 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2023-53280 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2023-53280 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
What is NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)?

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL, typically causing a crash. View CWE-476 on MITRE CWE →