Linux Kernel up to 5.15.120/6.1.39/6.4.4 sa_ctl null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.120/6.1.39/6.4.4. It has been classified as critical. The affected element is the function sa_ctl. This manipulation causes null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2023-53603. No exploit exists. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.120/6.1.39/6.4.4. It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function sa_ctl. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: qla2xxx: Avoid fcport pointer dereference Klocwork reported warning of NULL pointer may be dereferenced. The routine exits when sa_ctl is NULL and fcport is allocated after the exit call thus causing NULL fcport pointer to dereference at the time of exit. To avoid fcport pointer dereference, exit the routine when sa_ctl is NULL.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-53603 since 10/04/2025. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

Upgrading to version 5.15.121, 6.1.40 or 6.4.5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 4406fe8a96a946c7ea5724ee59625755a1d9c59d/477bc74ad1add644b606bff6ba1284943c42818a/7bbeff613ec0560fb2f6f8b405288f3f043adf64/6b504d06976fe4a61cc05dedc68b84fadb397f77 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at EUVD (EUVD-2023-60005) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2194). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Google Cloud Platform
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• NetApp ActiveIQ Unified Manager
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• Dell NetWorker

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.15.120
• 6.1.0
• 6.1.1
• 6.1.2
• 6.1.3
• 6.1.4
• 6.1.5
• 6.1.6
• 6.1.7
• 6.1.8
• 6.1.9
• 6.1.10
• 6.1.11
• 6.1.12
• 6.1.13
• 6.1.14
• 6.1.15
• 6.1.16
• 6.1.17
• 6.1.18
• 6.1.19
• 6.1.20
• 6.1.21
• 6.1.22
• 6.1.23
• 6.1.24
• 6.1.25
• 6.1.26
• 6.1.27
• 6.1.28
• 6.1.29
• 6.1.30
• 6.1.31
• 6.1.32
• 6.1.33
• 6.1.34
• 6.1.35
• 6.1.36
• 6.1.37
• 6.1.38
• 6.1.39
• 6.4.0
• 6.4.1
• 6.4.2
• 6.4.3
• 6.4.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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