CVE-2023-53425 media: platform: mediatek: vpu: fix NULL ptr dereference
A NULL pointer dereference in the MediaTek VPU driver can cause a kernel crash, leading to denial of service.
- 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-2023-53425?
CVE-2023-53425 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 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:
media: platform: mediatek: vpu: fix NULL ptr dereference
If pdev is NULL, then it is still dereferenced.
This fixes this smatch warning:
drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vpu/mtk_vpu.c:570 vpu_load_firmware() warn: address of NULL pointer 'pdev'
Weakness: CWE-476
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53425?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53425?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2023-53425 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53425 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53425, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53425, GHSA-mgh8-mjvw-m7j5, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53425.