# CVE-2023-53144: erofs: fix wrong kunmap when using LZMA on HIGHMEM platforms

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's EROFS LZMA decompression on HIGHMEM platforms can cause a system crash.

- **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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53144, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53144, GHSA-v7hq-jrg2-9x5f, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53144

## What is CVE-2023-53144?

CVE-2023-53144 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:

erofs: fix wrong kunmap when using LZMA on HIGHMEM platforms

As the call trace shown, the root cause is kunmap incorrect pages:

 BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000
 CPU: 1 PID: 40 Comm: kworker/u5:0 Not tainted 6.2.0-rc5 #4
 Workqueue: erofs_worker z_erofs_decompressqueue_work
 EIP: z_erofs_lzma_decompress+0x34b/0x8ac
  z_erofs_decompress+0x12/0x14
  z_erofs_decompress_queue+0x7e7/0xb1c
  z_erofs_decompressqueue_work+0x32/0x60
  process_one_work+0x24b/0x4d8
  ? process_one_work+0x1a4/0x4d8
  worker_thread+0x14c/0x3fc
  kthread+0xe6/0x10c
  ? rescuer_thread+0x358/0x358
  ? kthread_complete_and_exit+0x18/0x18
  ret_from_fork+0x1c/0x28
 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

The bug is trivial and should be fixed now.  It has no impact on
!HIGHMEM platforms.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53144?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53144?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53144 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53144 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-2023-53144 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53144 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-2023-53144 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-2023-53144/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53144/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53144
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53144
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53144

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53144/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.