NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2023-53472

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pwm: lpc32xx: Remove handling of PWM channels Because LPC32xx PWM controllers have only a single output which is registered as the only PWM device/channel per controller, it is known in advance that pwm->hwpwm value is always 0. On basis of this fact simplify the code by removing operations with pwm->hwpwm, there is no controls which require channel number as input. Even though I wasn't aware at the time when I forward ported that patch, this fixes a null pointer dereference as lpc32xx->chip.pwms is NULL before devm_pwmchip_add() is called.

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: 0.002 (4.1th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 4th percentile — 4.1% 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-2023-53472: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: 0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 5.15.132, 1c90a357cef4219cb436e59cc7463888103e104b, 4.19.208
  • Linux Kernel

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-53472?
CVE-2023-53472 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-10-01.
How severe is CVE-2023-53472?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.