# CVE-2023-53366: block: be a bit more careful in checking for NULL bdev while polling

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel block layer allows local attackers to cause a system crash via polled IO operations.

- **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:** 17 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-72263, BELL-CVE-2023-53366, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53366, GHSA-rggc-f5vc-pggf, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53366, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53366

## What is CVE-2023-53366?

CVE-2023-53366 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 17 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:

block: be a bit more careful in checking for NULL bdev while polling

Wei reports a crash with an application using polled IO:

PGD 14265e067 P4D 14265e067 PUD 47ec50067 PMD 0
Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP
CPU: 0 PID: 21915 Comm: iocore_0 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G S                5.12.0-0_fbk12_clang_7346_g1bb6f2e7058f #1
Hardware name: Wiwynn Delta Lake MP T8/Delta Lake-Class2, BIOS Y3DLM08 04/10/2022
RIP: 0010:bio_poll+0x25/0x200
Code: 0f 1f 44 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 55 41 57 41 56 41 55 41 54 53 48 83 ec 28 65 48 8b 04 25 28 00 00 00 48 89 44 24 20 48 8b 47 08 <48> 8b 80 70 02 00 00 4c 8b 70 50 8b 6f 34 31 db 83 fd ff 75 25 65
RSP: 0018:ffffc90005fafdf8 EFLAGS: 00010292
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 74b43cd65dd66600
RDX: 0000000000000003 RSI: ffffc90005fafe78 RDI: ffff8884b614e140
RBP: ffff88849964df78 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000008
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff88849964df00
R13: ffffc90005fafe78 R14: ffff888137d3c378 R15: 0000000000000001
FS:  00007fd195000640(0000) GS:ffff88903f400000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000000000000270 CR3: 0000000466121001 CR4: 00000000007706f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
PKRU: 55555554
Call Trace:
 iocb_bio_iopoll+0x1d/0x30
 io_do_iopoll+0xac/0x250
 __se_sys_io_uring_enter+0x3c5/0x5a0
 ? __x64_sys_write+0x89/0xd0
 do_syscall_64+0x2d/0x40
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
RIP: 0033:0x94f225d
Code: 24 cc 00 00 00 41 8b 84 24 d0 00 00 00 c1 e0 04 83 e0 10 41 09 c2 8b 33 8b 53 04 4c 8b 43 18 4c 63 4b 0c b8 aa 01 00 00 0f 05 <85> c0 0f 88 85 00 00 00 29 03 45 84 f6 0f 84 88 00 00 00 41 f6 c7
RSP: 002b:00007fd194ffcd88 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000001aa
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007fd194ffcdc0 RCX: 00000000094f225d
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000007
RBP: 00007fd194ffcdb0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000008
R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 00007fd269d68030
R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000000

which is due to bio->bi_bdev being NULL. This can happen if we have two
tasks doing polled IO, and task B ends up completing IO from task A if
they are sharing a poll queue. If task B completes the IO and puts the
bio into our cache, then it can allocate that bio again before task A
is done polling for it. As that would necessitate a preempt between the
two tasks, it's enough to just be a bit more careful in checking for
whether or not bio->bi_bdev is NULL.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53366?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53366?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53366 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53366 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-2023-53366 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53366 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 17 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-2023-53366 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-2023-53366/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53366/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53366
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53366
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53366

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53366/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.