NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2023-53244

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: pci: tw68: Fix null-ptr-deref bug in buf prepare and finish When the driver calls tw68_risc_buffer() to prepare the buffer, the function call dma_alloc_coherent may fail, resulting in a empty buffer buf->cpu. Later when we free the buffer or access the buffer, null ptr deref is triggered. This bug is similar to the following one: https://git.linuxtv.org/media_stage.git/commit/?id=2b064d91440b33fba5b452f2d1b31f13ae911d71. We believe the bug can be also dynamically triggered from user side. Similarly, we fix this by checking the return value of tw68_risc_buffer() and the value of buf->cpu before buffer free.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.001 (3.2th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 3rd percentile — 3.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2023-53244: held from 0.001 to 0.001.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.001 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-53244?
CVE-2023-53244 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-09-15.
How severe is CVE-2023-53244?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.