# CVE-2023-53119: nfc: pn533: initialize struct pn533_out_arg properly

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel NFC driver can cause a system crash when handling USB errors.

- **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:** 2 May 2025
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53119, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53119, GHSA-2ccv-mmfh-gf82, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53119

## What is CVE-2023-53119?

CVE-2023-53119 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:

nfc: pn533: initialize struct pn533_out_arg properly

struct pn533_out_arg used as a temporary context for out_urb is not
initialized properly. Its uninitialized 'phy' field can be dereferenced in
error cases inside pn533_out_complete() callback function. It causes the
following failure:

general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
CPU: 1 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/1 Not tainted 6.2.0-rc3-next-20230110-syzkaller #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/26/2022
RIP: 0010:pn533_out_complete.cold+0x15/0x44 drivers/nfc/pn533/usb.c:441
Call Trace:
 <IRQ>
 __usb_hcd_giveback_urb+0x2b6/0x5c0 drivers/usb/core/hcd.c:1671
 usb_hcd_giveback_urb+0x384/0x430 drivers/usb/core/hcd.c:1754
 dummy_timer+0x1203/0x32d0 drivers/usb/gadget/udc/dummy_hcd.c:1988
 call_timer_fn+0x1da/0x800 kernel/time/timer.c:1700
 expire_timers+0x234/0x330 kernel/time/timer.c:1751
 __run_timers kernel/time/timer.c:2022 [inline]
 __run_timers kernel/time/timer.c:1995 [inline]
 run_timer_softirq+0x326/0x910 kernel/time/timer.c:2035
 __do_softirq+0x1fb/0xaf6 kernel/softirq.c:571
 invoke_softirq kernel/softirq.c:445 [inline]
 __irq_exit_rcu+0x123/0x180 kernel/softirq.c:650
 irq_exit_rcu+0x9/0x20 kernel/softirq.c:662
 sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x97/0xc0 arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1107

Initialize the field with the pn533_usb_phy currently used.

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.

Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53119?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53119?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53119 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53119 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-2023-53119 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53119 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53119 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-2023-53119/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53119/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53119
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53119
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53119

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53119/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.