Linux Kernel up to 5.15.111/6.1.28/6.2.15/6.3.2 null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.111/6.1.28/6.2.15/6.3.2. This affects an unknown part. This manipulation causes null pointer dereference. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-53837. There is no exploit available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.111/6.1.28/6.2.15/6.3.2 and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is some unknown functionality. 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: drm/msm: fix NULL-deref on snapshot tear down In case of early initialisation errors and on platforms that do not use the DPU controller, the deinitilisation code can be called with the kms pointer set to NULL. Patchwork: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/525099/

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-53837 since 12/09/2025. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 278376 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53837), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.15.112, 6.1.29, 6.2.16 or 6.3.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 8f0e1ad5327a3499e7f09157cb714302a856e8a4/16e0e6fb4511c004a5a0987d5bd75d9bcfb2b175/8eca32b5b92a0be956a8934d7eddf4f70c107927/19fe79ae816a7e3400df1eb4d27530bf9b8ae258/a465353b9250802f87b97123e33a17f51277f0b1 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 Tenable (278376) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2765). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.15.111
• 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
• 6.2.0
• 6.2.1
• 6.2.2
• 6.2.3
• 6.2.4
• 6.2.5
• 6.2.6
• 6.2.7
• 6.2.8
• 6.2.9
• 6.2.10
• 6.2.11
• 6.2.12
• 6.2.13
• 6.2.14
• 6.2.15
• 6.3.0
• 6.3.1
• 6.3.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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