# CVE-2023-53497: media: vsp1: Replace vb2_is_streaming() with vb2_start_streaming_called() > A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel vsp1 driver causes a system crash when processing video buffers. - **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:** 1 Oct 2025 - **Updated:** 11 May 2026 - **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53497, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53497, GHSA-9pg5-vgmp-j2j8, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53497 ## What is CVE-2023-53497? CVE-2023-53497 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: vsp1: Replace vb2_is_streaming() with vb2_start_streaming_called() The vsp1 driver uses the vb2_is_streaming() function in its .buf_queue() handler to check if the .start_streaming() operation has been called, and decide whether to just add the buffer to an internal queue, or also trigger a hardware run. vb2_is_streaming() relies on the vb2_queue structure's streaming field, which used to be set only after calling the .start_streaming() operation. Commit a10b21532574 ("media: vb2: add (un)prepare_streaming queue ops") changed this, setting the .streaming field in vb2_core_streamon() before enqueuing buffers to the driver and calling .start_streaming(). This broke the vsp1 driver which now believes that .start_streaming() has been called when it hasn't, leading to a crash: [ 881.058705] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000020 [ 881.067495] Mem abort info: [ 881.070290] ESR = 0x0000000096000006 [ 881.074042] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits [ 881.079358] SET = 0, FnV = 0 [ 881.082414] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 [ 881.085558] FSC = 0x06: level 2 translation fault [ 881.090439] Data abort info: [ 881.093320] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000006 [ 881.097157] CM = 0, WnR = 0 [ 881.100126] user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=000000004fa51000 [ 881.106573] [0000000000000020] pgd=080000004f36e003, p4d=080000004f36e003, pud=080000004f7ec003, pmd=0000000000000000 [ 881.117217] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000006 [#1] PREEMPT SMP [ 881.123494] Modules linked in: rcar_fdp1 v4l2_mem2mem [ 881.128572] CPU: 0 PID: 1271 Comm: yavta Tainted: G B 6.2.0-rc1-00023-g6c94e2e99343 #556 [ 881.138061] Hardware name: Renesas Salvator-X 2nd version board based on r8a77965 (DT) [ 881.145981] pstate: 400000c5 (nZcv daIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 881.152951] pc : vsp1_dl_list_add_body+0xa8/0xe0 [ 881.157580] lr : vsp1_dl_list_add_body+0x34/0xe0 [ 881.162206] sp : ffff80000c267710 [ 881.165522] x29: ffff80000c267710 x28: ffff000010938ae8 x27: ffff000013a8dd98 [ 881.172683] x26: ffff000010938098 x25: ffff000013a8dc00 x24: ffff000010ed6ba8 [ 881.179841] x23: ffff00000faa4000 x22: 0000000000000000 x21: 0000000000000020 [ 881.186998] x20: ffff00000faa4000 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: 0000000000000000 [ 881.194154] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000000000000000 [ 881.201309] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 746e696174206c65 x12: ffff70000157043d [ 881.208465] x11: 1ffff0000157043c x10: ffff70000157043c x9 : dfff800000000000 [ 881.215622] x8 : ffff80000ab821e7 x7 : 00008ffffea8fbc4 x6 : 0000000000000001 [ 881.222779] x5 : ffff80000ab821e0 x4 : ffff70000157043d x3 : 0000000000000020 [ 881.229936] x2 : 0000000000000020 x1 : ffff00000e4f6400 x0 : 0000000000000000 [ 881.237092] Call trace: [ 881.239542] vsp1_dl_list_add_body+0xa8/0xe0 [ 881.243822] vsp1_video_pipeline_run+0x270/0x2a0 [ 881.248449] vsp1_video_buffer_queue+0x1c0/0x1d0 [ 881.253076] __enqueue_in_driver+0xbc/0x260 [ 881.257269] vb2_start_streaming+0x48/0x200 [ 881.261461] vb2_core_streamon+0x13c/0x280 [ 881.265565] vb2_streamon+0x3c/0x90 [ 881.269064] vsp1_video_streamon+0x2fc/0x3e0 [ 881.273344] v4l_streamon+0x50/0x70 [ 881.276844] __video_do_ioctl+0x2bc/0x5d0 [ 881.280861] video_usercopy+0x2a8/0xc80 [ 881.284704] video_ioctl2+0x20/0x40 [ 881.288201] v4l2_ioctl+0xa4/0xc0 [ 881.291525] __arm64_sys_ioctl+0xe8/0x110 [ 881.295543] invoke_syscall+0x68/0x190 [ 881.299303] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x88/0x170 [ 881.304105] do_el0_svc+0x4c/0xf0 [ 881.307430] el0_svc+0x4c/0xa0 [ 881.310494] el0t_64_sync_handler+0xbc/0x140 [ 881.314773] el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 [ 881.318450] Code: d50323bf d65f03c0 91008263 f9800071 (885f7c60) [ 881.324551] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [ 881.329173] note: yavta[1271] exited with preempt_count 1 A different r ---truncated--- Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53497? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2023-53497? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2023-53497 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53497 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-2023-53497 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2023-53497 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. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53497 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-2023-53497/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53497/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53497 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53497 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53497 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53497/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.