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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53497

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.2.15 / 6.3.2 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: 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---

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:>= 6.2, < 6.2.15>= 6.3, < 6.3.2

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 6.2.15 / 6.3.2 or later
Fixed in 6.2.156.3.2
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.2.15 or 6.3.2 (or later)

  1. Upgrade Linux Kernel to version 6.2.15 or later in the 6.2.x branch
  2. Alternatively, upgrade to version 6.3.2 or later in the 6.3.x branch
  3. Alternatively, apply vendor patch commit 52d8caca3d533cc499f1255be25576ffd936ec95 which replaces vb2_is_streaming() with vb2_start_streaming_called() in the vsp1 driver

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

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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-2023-53497 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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