# CVE-2023-53326: powerpc: Don't try to copy PPR for task with NULL pt_regs

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash by causing a coredump on a PF_IO_WORKER task with NULL pt_regs, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 16 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53326, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53326, GHSA-xr8h-4cmg-pxjm, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53326

## What is CVE-2023-53326?

CVE-2023-53326 is a medium-severity 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:

powerpc: Don't try to copy PPR for task with NULL pt_regs

powerpc sets up PF_KTHREAD and PF_IO_WORKER with a NULL pt_regs, which
from my (arguably very short) checking is not commonly done for other
archs. This is fine, except when PF_IO_WORKER's have been created and
the task does something that causes a coredump to be generated. Then we
get this crash:

  Kernel attempted to read user page (160) - exploit attempt? (uid: 1000)
  BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000160
  Faulting instruction address: 0xc0000000000c3a60
  Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
  LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Radix SMP NR_CPUS=32 NUMA pSeries
  Modules linked in: bochs drm_vram_helper drm_kms_helper xts binfmt_misc ecb ctr syscopyarea sysfillrect cbc sysimgblt drm_ttm_helper aes_generic ttm sg libaes evdev joydev virtio_balloon vmx_crypto gf128mul drm dm_mod fuse loop configfs drm_panel_orientation_quirks ip_tables x_tables autofs4 hid_generic usbhid hid xhci_pci xhci_hcd usbcore usb_common sd_mod
  CPU: 1 PID: 1982 Comm: ppc-crash Not tainted 6.3.0-rc2+ #88
  Hardware name: IBM pSeries (emulated by qemu) POWER9 (raw) 0x4e1202 0xf000005 of:SLOF,HEAD hv:linux,kvm pSeries
  NIP:  c0000000000c3a60 LR: c000000000039944 CTR: c0000000000398e0
  REGS: c0000000041833b0 TRAP: 0300   Not tainted  (6.3.0-rc2+)
  MSR:  800000000280b033 <SF,VEC,VSX,EE,FP,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE>  CR: 88082828  XER: 200400f8
  ...
  NIP memcpy_power7+0x200/0x7d0
  LR  ppr_get+0x64/0xb0
  Call Trace:
    ppr_get+0x40/0xb0 (unreliable)
    __regset_get+0x180/0x1f0
    regset_get_alloc+0x64/0x90
    elf_core_dump+0xb98/0x1b60
    do_coredump+0x1c34/0x24a0
    get_signal+0x71c/0x1410
    do_notify_resume+0x140/0x6f0
    interrupt_exit_user_prepare_main+0x29c/0x320
    interrupt_exit_user_prepare+0x6c/0xa0
    interrupt_return_srr_user+0x8/0x138

Because ppr_get() is trying to copy from a PF_IO_WORKER with a NULL
pt_regs.

Check for a valid pt_regs in both ppc_get/ppr_set, and return an error
if not set. The actual error value doesn't seem to be important here, so
just pick -EINVAL.

[mpe: Trim oops in change log, add Fixes & Cc stable]

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53326?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53326?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53326 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53326 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-2023-53326 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53326 is a medium-severity 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53326 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-2023-53326/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53326/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53326
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53326
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53326

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53326/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.