CVE-2023-53273: linux kernel Null Dereference — Fix

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Drivers: vmbus: Check for channel allocation before looking up relids relid2channel() assumes vmbus channel array to be allocated when called. However, in cases such as kdump/kexec, not all relids will be reset by the host. When the second kernel boots and if the guest receives a vmbus interrupt during vmbus driver initialization before vmbus_connect() is called, before it finishes, or if it fails, the vmbus interrupt service routine is called which in turn calls relid2channel() and can cause a null pointer dereference. Print a warning and error out in relid2channel() for a channel id that's invalid in the second kernel.

Is your site exposed to CVE-2023-53273?

Run a free security scan — no signup, results in seconds.

CVSS v3.1 Score

5.5

MEDIUM

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

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-476 CWE-476

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
linux	linux_kernel	5.8 — 5.10.178
linux	linux_kernel	5.11 — 5.15.107
linux	linux_kernel	5.16 — 6.1.24
linux	linux_kernel	6.2 — 6.2.11
linux	linux_kernel	All
linux	linux_kernel	All
linux	linux_kernel	All
linux	linux_kernel	All
linux	linux_kernel	All

References

Advisories & Patches

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/176c6b4889195fbe7016d9401175b48c5c9edf68 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1eb65c8687316c65140b48fad27133d583178e15 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8c3f0ae5435fd20bb1e3a8308488aa6ac33151ee https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a5c44f3446a0565139b7d8abc78f58b86c398123 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c373e49fbb87aa177819866ed9194ebc5414dfd6

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-53273? +

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Drivers: vmbus: Check for channel allocation before looking up relids relid2channel() assumes vmbus channel array to be allocated when called. However, in cases such as kdump/kexec, not all relids will be reset by the host. When the second kernel boots and if the guest receives a vmbus interrupt during vmbus driver initialization before vmbus_connect() is called, before it finishes, or if it fails, the vmbus interrupt service routine is called which in turn calls relid2channel() and can cause a null pointer dereference. Print a warning and error out in relid2channel() for a channel id that's invalid in the second kernel. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2023-53273? +

CVE-2023-53273 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.

What products are affected by CVE-2023-53273? +

CVE-2023-53273 affects products from linux, specifically: linux_kernel. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2023-53273? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-8479

IEC 60870-5-104 used in bidirectional mode in RTU500 is vulnerable for a NULL pointer dereferencing, if a specially crafted sequence …

CVE-2025-24031

PAM-PKCS#11 is a Linux-PAM login module that allows a X.509 certificate based user login. In versions 0.6.12 and prior, the …

CVE-2025-31115

XZ Utils provide a general-purpose data-compression library plus command-line tools. In XZ Utils 5.3.3alpha to 5.8.0, the multithreaded .xz decoder …

CVE-2025-0121

A null pointer dereference vulnerability in the Palo Alto Networks Cortex® XDR agent on Windows devices allows a low-privileged local …

CVE-2023-45925

GNU Midnight Commander 4.8.29-146-g299d9a2fb was discovered to contain a NULL pointer dereference via the function x_error_handler() at tty/x11conn.c. NOTE: this …

CVE-2025-6398

A null pointer dereference vulnerability exists in the IOMap64.sys driver of ASUS AI Suite 3. The vulnerability can be triggered …

CVE-2023-53273