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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53576

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.10.181 / 5.15.113 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: null_blk: Always check queue mode setting from configfs Make sure to check device queue mode in the null_validate_conf() and return error for NULL_Q_RQ as we don't allow legacy I/O path, without this patch we get OOPs when queue mode is set to 1 from configfs, following are repro steps :- modprobe null_blk nr_devices=0 mkdir config/nullb/nullb0 echo 1 > config/nullb/nullb0/memory_backed echo 4096 > config/nullb/nullb0/blocksize echo 20480 > config/nullb/nullb0/size echo 1 > config/nullb/nullb0/queue_mode echo 1 > config/nullb/nullb0/power Entering kdb (current=0xffff88810acdd080, pid 2372) on processor 42 Oops: (null) due to oops @ 0xffffffffc041c329 CPU: 42 PID: 2372 Comm: sh Tainted: G O N 6.3.0-rc5lblk+ #5 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:null_add_dev.part.0+0xd9/0x720 [null_blk] Code: 01 00 00 85 d2 0f 85 a1 03 00 00 48 83 bb 08 01 00 00 00 0f 85 f7 03 00 00 80 bb 62 01 00 00 00 48 8b 75 20 0f 85 6d 02 00 00 <48> 89 6e 60 48 8b 75 20 bf 06 00 00 00 e8 f5 37 2c c1 48 8b 75 20 RSP: 0018:ffffc900052cbde0 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: ffff88811084d800 RCX: 0000000000000001 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff888100042e00 RBP: ffff8881053d8200 R08: ffffc900052cbd68 R09: ffff888105db2000 R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000002 R13: ffff888104765200 R14: ffff88810eec1748 R15: ffff88810eec1740 FS: 00007fd445fd1740(0000) GS:ffff8897dfc80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000060 CR3: 0000000166a00000 CR4: 0000000000350ee0 DR0: ffffffff8437a488 DR1: ffffffff8437a489 DR2: ffffffff8437a48a DR3: ffffffff8437a48b DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> nullb_device_power_store+0xd1/0x120 [null_blk] configfs_write_iter+0xb4/0x120 vfs_write+0x2ba/0x3c0 ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0 do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc RIP: 0033:0x7fd4460c57a7 Code: 0d 00 f7 d8 64 89 02 48 c7 c0 ff ff ff ff eb b7 0f 1f 00 f3 0f 1e fa 64 8b 04 25 18 00 00 00 85 c0 75 10 b8 01 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 51 c3 48 83 ec 28 48 89 54 24 18 48 89 74 24 RSP: 002b:00007ffd3792a4a8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000002 RCX: 00007fd4460c57a7 RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 000055b43c02e4c0 RDI: 0000000000000001 RBP: 000055b43c02e4c0 R08: 000000000000000a R09: 00007fd44615b4e0 R10: 00007fd44615b3e0 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000002 R13: 00007fd446198520 R14: 0000000000000002 R15: 00007fd446198700 </TASK>

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:>= 4.20, < 5.10.181>= 5.11, < 5.15.113>= 5.16, < 6.1.30>= 6.2, < 6.3.4

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 5.10.181 / 5.15.113 / 6.1.30 or later
Fixed in 5.10.1815.15.1136.1.30
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux kernel 5.10.181 / 5.15.113 / 6.1.30 / 6.3.4 or later

  1. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 5.10.181 or later (if using the 5.10.x stable branch)
  2. Alternatively, upgrade to version 5.15.113 or later (if using the 5.15.x stable branch)
  3. Alternatively, upgrade to version 6.1.30 or later (if using the 6.1.x stable branch)
  4. Alternatively, upgrade to version 6.3.4 or later (if using the 6.3.x stable branch)
  5. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  6. Verify the kernel version with: uname -r
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebooting the system and could introduce compatibility issues with out-of-tree kernel modules or specific hardware drivers; ensure backup and test in non-production environment first

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-2023-53576 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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