CVE-2023-53458 media: cx23885: Fix a null-ptr-deref bug in buffer_prepare() and buffer_finish()

What is CVE-2023-53458?

CVE-2023-53458 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Oct 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: cx23885: Fix a null-ptr-deref bug in buffer_prepare() and buffer_finish()

When the driver calls cx23885_risc_buffer() to prepare the buffer, the function call dma_alloc_coherent may fail, resulting in a empty buffer risc->cpu. Later when we free the buffer or access the buffer, null ptr deref is triggered.

This bug is similar to the following one: https://git.linuxtv.org/media_stage.git/commit/?id=2b064d91440b33fba5b452f2d1b31f13ae911d71.

We believe the bug can be also dynamically triggered from user side. Similarly, we fix this by checking the return value of cx23885_risc_buffer() and the value of risc->cpu before buffer free.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53458?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-53458?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2023-53458 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53458 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53458, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53458, GHSA-j4qg-w554-c3hr, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53458, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53458.