CVE-2023-53274 clk: mediatek: mt8183: Add back SSPM related clocks
Out-of-bound writes in the MT8183 clock driver can cause memory corruption, leading to system crashes or potential code execution.
- 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-2023-53274?
CVE-2023-53274 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 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:
clk: mediatek: mt8183: Add back SSPM related clocks
This reverts commit 860690a93ef23b567f781c1b631623e27190f101.
On the MT8183, the SSPM related clocks were removed claiming a lack of usage. This however causes some issues when the driver was converted to the new simple-probe mechanism. This mechanism allocates enough space for all the clocks defined in the clock driver, not the highest index in the DT binding. This leads to out-of-bound writes if their are holes in the DT binding or the driver (due to deprecated or unimplemented clocks). These errors can go unnoticed and cause memory corruption, leading to crashes in unrelated areas, or nothing at all. KASAN will detect them.
Add the SSPM related clocks back to the MT8183 clock driver to fully implement the DT binding. The SSPM clocks are for the power management co-processor, and should never be turned off. They are marked as such.
Weakness: CWE-787
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53274?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53274?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2023-53274 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53274 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53274, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53274, GHSA-23pr-hf4g-r8h2, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53274.