# CVE-2023-52993: x86/i8259: Mark legacy PIC interrupts with IRQ_LEVEL

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's legacy PIC interrupt handling can cause a system crash during kdump execution.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 27 Mar 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52993, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52993, GHSA-g7hp-hfwm-x3rp, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52993

## What is CVE-2023-52993?

CVE-2023-52993 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Mar 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

x86/i8259: Mark legacy PIC interrupts with IRQ_LEVEL

Baoquan reported that after triggering a crash the subsequent crash-kernel
fails to boot about half of the time. It triggers a NULL pointer
dereference in the periodic tick code.

This happens because the legacy timer interrupt (IRQ0) is resent in
software which happens in soft interrupt (tasklet) context. In this context
get_irq_regs() returns NULL which leads to the NULL pointer dereference.

The reason for the resend is a spurious APIC interrupt on the IRQ0 vector
which is captured and leads to a resend when the legacy timer interrupt is
enabled. This is wrong because the legacy PIC interrupts are level
triggered and therefore should never be resent in software, but nothing
ever sets the IRQ_LEVEL flag on those interrupts, so the core code does not
know about their trigger type.

Ensure that IRQ_LEVEL is set when the legacy PCI interrupts are set up.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52993?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52993?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52993 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52993 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-52993 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52993 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Mar 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52993 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52993/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52993/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52993
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52993
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52993

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52993/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.