CVE-2023-53168 usb: ucsi_acpi: Increase the command completion timeout
A timeout misconfiguration in the Linux kernel UCSI ACPI driver can lead to a null pointer dereference and system crash when connecting specific USB-C monitors.
- 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
What is CVE-2023-53168?
CVE-2023-53168 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 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:
usb: ucsi_acpi: Increase the command completion timeout
Commit 130a96d698d7 ("usb: typec: ucsi: acpi: Increase command completion timeout value") increased the timeout from 5 seconds to 60 seconds due to issues related to alternate mode discovery.
After the alternate mode discovery switch to polled mode the timeout was reduced, but instead of being set back to 5 seconds it was reduced to 1 second.
This is causing problems when using a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 yoga gen7 connected over Type-C to a LG 27UL850-W (charging DP over Type-C).
When the monitor is already connected at boot the following error is logged: "PPM init failed (-110)", /sys/class/typec is empty and on unplugging the NULL pointer deref fixed earlier in this series happens.
When the monitor is connected after boot the following error is logged instead: "GET_CONNECTOR_STATUS failed (-110)".
Setting the timeout back to 5 seconds fixes both cases.
Weakness: CWE-476
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53168?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53168?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2023-53168 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53168 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53168, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53168, GHSA-mhq5-fgp5-4gpg, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53168, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53168.