CVE-2023-53470 ionic: catch failure from devlink_alloc
A missing null check in the ionic network driver causes a kernel panic when devlink allocation fails, 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-2023-53470?
CVE-2023-53470 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:
ionic: catch failure from devlink_alloc
Add a check for NULL on the alloc return. If devlink_alloc() fails and we try to use devlink_priv() on the NULL return, the kernel gets very unhappy and panics. With this fix, the driver load will still fail, but at least it won't panic the kernel.
Weakness: CWE-476
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53470?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53470?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2023-53470 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53470 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53470, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53470, GHSA-xcx5-vqwh-3fw6, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53470, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53470.