CVE-2023-53856
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: of: overlay: Call of_changeset_init() early When of_overlay_fdt_apply() fails, the changeset may be partially applied, and the caller is still expected to call of_overlay_remove() to clean up this partial state. However, of_overlay_apply() calls of_resolve_phandles() before init_overlay_changeset(). Hence if the overlay fails to apply due to an unresolved symbol, the overlay_changeset.cset.entries list is still uninitialized, and cleanup will crash with a NULL-pointer dereference in overlay_removal_is_ok(). Fix this by moving the call to of_changeset_init() from init_overlay_changeset() to of_overlay_fdt_apply(), where all other early initialization is done.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
4.15
and later are affected. Fixed in
5.15.132,
6.1.53,
6.4.16,
6.5.3,
6.6
and their respective stable series.
References
The following references provide additional information about CVE-2023-53856 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/01bb96ad38089f5cc6de7746dac13437d35eb1dc
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3fb210cd521c9efcb211e9f5ce40fc907200bf13
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9515ff4fb142b690a0d2b58782b15903b990dba
Frequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2023-53856?
CVE-2023-53856 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.15 onward and has been patched in 5.15.132, 6.1.53, 6.4.16 and others. CVE-2023-53856 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2023-53856?
Yes — CVE-2023-53856 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.15.132, 6.1.53, 6.4.16 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.15 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2023-53856 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2023-53856 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.