CVE-2023-53071 wifi: mt76: do not run mt76_unregister_device() on unregistered hw

What is CVE-2023-53071?

CVE-2023-53071 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 May 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:

wifi: mt76: do not run mt76_unregister_device() on unregistered hw

Trying to probe a mt7921e pci card without firmware results in a successful probe where ieee80211_register_hw hasn't been called. When removing the driver, ieee802111_unregister_hw is called unconditionally leading to a kernel NULL pointer dereference. Fix the issue running mt76_unregister_device routine just for registered hw.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53071?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-53071?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2023-53071 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53071 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53071, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53071, GHSA-7ghc-rmvr-4977, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53071.