What is CVE-2023-53497?

CVE-2023-53497 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 6.2 onward and patched in 6.2.15, 6.3.2 and 6.4. CVE-2023-53497 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-53497?

CVE-2023-53497 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-2023-53497?

Yes, CVE-2023-53497 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.2.15, 6.3.2 and 6.4. If you are running Linux kernel 6.2 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2023-53497 actively exploited?

CVE-2023-53497 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-2023-53497

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: vsp1: Replace vb2_is_streaming() with vb2_start_streaming_called() The vsp1 driver uses the vb2_is_streaming() function in its .buf_queue() handler to check if the .start_streaming() operation has been called, and decide whether to just add the buffer to an internal queue, or also trigger a hardware run. vb2_is_streaming() relies on the vb2_queue structure's streaming field, which used to be set only after calling the .start_streaming() operation. Commit a10b21532574 ("media: vb2: add (un)prepare_streaming queue ops") changed this, setting the .streaming field in vb2_core_streamon() before enqueuing buffers to the driver and calling .start_streaming(). This broke the vsp1 driver which now believes that .start_streaming() has been called when it hasn't, leading to a crash: [ 881.058705] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000020 [ 881.067495] Mem abort info: [ 881.070290] ESR = 0x0000000096000006 [ 881.074042] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits [ 881.079358] SET = 0, FnV = 0 [ 881.082414] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 [ 881.085558] FSC = 0x06: level 2 translation fault [ 881.090439] Data abort info: [ 881.093320] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000006 [ 881.097157] CM = 0, WnR = 0 [ 881.100126] user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=000000004fa51000 [ 881.106573] [0000000000000020] pgd=080000004f36e003, p4d=080000004f36e003, pud=080000004f7ec003, pmd=0000000000000000 [ 881.117217] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000006 [#1] PREEMPT SMP [ 881.123494] Modules linked in: rcar_fdp1 v4l2_mem2mem [ 881.128572] CPU: 0 PID: 1271 Comm: yavta Tainted: G B 6.2.0-rc1-00023-g6c94e2e99343 #556 [ 881.138061] Hardware name: Renesas Salvator-X 2nd version board based on r8a77965 (DT) [ 881.145981] pstate: 400000c5 (nZcv daIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 881.152951] pc : vsp1_dl_list_add_body+0xa8/0xe0 [ 881.157580] lr : vsp1_dl_list_add_body+0x34/0xe0 [ 881.162206] sp : ffff80000c267710 [ 881.165522] x29: ffff80000c267710 x28: ffff000010938ae8 x27: ffff000013a8dd98 [ 881.172683] x26: ffff000010938098 x25: ffff000013a8dc00 x24: ffff000010ed6ba8 [ 881.179841] x23: ffff00000faa4000 x22: 0000000000000000 x21: 0000000000000020 [ 881.186998] x20: ffff00000faa4000 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: 0000000000000000 [ 881.194154] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000000000000000 [ 881.201309] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 746e696174206c65 x12: ffff70000157043d [ 881.208465] x11: 1ffff0000157043c x10: ffff70000157043c x9 : dfff800000000000 [ 881.215622] x8 : ffff80000ab821e7 x7 : 00008ffffea8fbc4 x6 : 0000000000000001 [ 881.222779] x5 : ffff80000ab821e0 x4 : ffff70000157043d x3 : 0000000000000020 [ 881.229936] x2 : 0000000000000020 x1 : ffff00000e4f6400 x0 : 0000000000000000 [ 881.237092] Call trace: [ 881.239542] vsp1_dl_list_add_body+0xa8/0xe0 [ 881.243822] vsp1_video_pipeline_run+0x270/0x2a0 [ 881.248449] vsp1_video_buffer_queue+0x1c0/0x1d0 [ 881.253076] __enqueue_in_driver+0xbc/0x260 [ 881.257269] vb2_start_streaming+0x48/0x200 [ 881.261461] vb2_core_streamon+0x13c/0x280 [ 881.265565] vb2_streamon+0x3c/0x90 [ 881.269064] vsp1_video_streamon+0x2fc/0x3e0 [ 881.273344] v4l_streamon+0x50/0x70 [ 881.276844] __video_do_ioctl+0x2bc/0x5d0 [ 881.280861] video_usercopy+0x2a8/0xc80 [ 881.284704] video_ioctl2+0x20/0x40 [ 881.288201] v4l2_ioctl+0xa4/0xc0 [ 881.291525] __arm64_sys_ioctl+0xe8/0x110 [ 881.295543] invoke_syscall+0x68/0x190 [ 881.299303] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x88/0x170 [ 881.304105] do_el0_svc+0x4c/0xf0 [ 881.307430] el0_svc+0x4c/0xa0 [ 881.310494] el0t_64_sync_handler+0xbc/0x140 [ 881.314773] el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 [ 881.318450] Code: d50323bf d65f03c0 91008263 f9800071 (885f7c60) [ 881.324551] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [ 881.329173] note: yavta[1271] exited with preempt_count 1 A different r ---truncated---

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2025-10-01

Last modified 2026-01-16

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-2023-53497 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 6.2 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.2.15, 6.3.2, 6.4 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 6.2

Fixed in

✓ 6.2.15 6.2.x ✓ 6.3.2 6.3.x ✓ 6.4

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2023-53497 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/52d8caca3d533cc499f1255be25576ffd936ec95
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/960dc0aa4aa149f6f39125394f4feb51b7addc60
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b54f74214adf4e77cba6badf488c564dd353b491
Patch

Details

CVE ID CVE-2023-53497

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2025-10-01

Modified 2026-01-16

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-53497?

CVE-2023-53497 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 6.2 onward and has been patched in 6.2.15, 6.3.2 and 6.4. CVE-2023-53497 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-53497?

CVE-2023-53497 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-2023-53497?

Yes — CVE-2023-53497 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.2.15, 6.3.2 and 6.4. If you are running Linux kernel 6.2 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2023-53497 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2023-53497 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 →