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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53366

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.16 / 6.2.3 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: block: be a bit more careful in checking for NULL bdev while polling Wei reports a crash with an application using polled IO: PGD 14265e067 P4D 14265e067 PUD 47ec50067 PMD 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP CPU: 0 PID: 21915 Comm: iocore_0 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G S 5.12.0-0_fbk12_clang_7346_g1bb6f2e7058f #1 Hardware name: Wiwynn Delta Lake MP T8/Delta Lake-Class2, BIOS Y3DLM08 04/10/2022 RIP: 0010:bio_poll+0x25/0x200 Code: 0f 1f 44 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 55 41 57 41 56 41 55 41 54 53 48 83 ec 28 65 48 8b 04 25 28 00 00 00 48 89 44 24 20 48 8b 47 08 <48> 8b 80 70 02 00 00 4c 8b 70 50 8b 6f 34 31 db 83 fd ff 75 25 65 RSP: 0018:ffffc90005fafdf8 EFLAGS: 00010292 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 74b43cd65dd66600 RDX: 0000000000000003 RSI: ffffc90005fafe78 RDI: ffff8884b614e140 RBP: ffff88849964df78 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000008 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff88849964df00 R13: ffffc90005fafe78 R14: ffff888137d3c378 R15: 0000000000000001 FS: 00007fd195000640(0000) GS:ffff88903f400000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000270 CR3: 0000000466121001 CR4: 00000000007706f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: iocb_bio_iopoll+0x1d/0x30 io_do_iopoll+0xac/0x250 __se_sys_io_uring_enter+0x3c5/0x5a0 ? __x64_sys_write+0x89/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0x2d/0x40 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae RIP: 0033:0x94f225d Code: 24 cc 00 00 00 41 8b 84 24 d0 00 00 00 c1 e0 04 83 e0 10 41 09 c2 8b 33 8b 53 04 4c 8b 43 18 4c 63 4b 0c b8 aa 01 00 00 0f 05 <85> c0 0f 88 85 00 00 00 29 03 45 84 f6 0f 84 88 00 00 00 41 f6 c7 RSP: 002b:00007fd194ffcd88 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000001aa RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007fd194ffcdc0 RCX: 00000000094f225d RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000007 RBP: 00007fd194ffcdb0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000008 R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 00007fd269d68030 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000000 which is due to bio->bi_bdev being NULL. This can happen if we have two tasks doing polled IO, and task B ends up completing IO from task A if they are sharing a poll queue. If task B completes the IO and puts the bio into our cache, then it can allocate that bio again before task A is done polling for it. As that would necessitate a preempt between the two tasks, it's enough to just be a bit more careful in checking for whether or not bio->bi_bdev is NULL.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 5.15, < 6.1.16>= 6.2, < 6.2.3

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.1.16 / 6.2.3 or later
Fixed in 6.1.166.2.3
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.1.16 or 6.2.3 (depending on which branch you're on)

  1. Upgrade Linux kernel to version 6.1.16 or later for systems running kernel >= 5.15 and < 6.1.16
  2. Upgrade Linux kernel to version 6.2.3 or later for systems running kernel >= 6.2 and < 6.2.3
  3. After upgrading, verify the fix by checking that the kernel version matches the fixed releases using 'uname -r'

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $2,850. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-53366 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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