# CVE-2023-53658: spi: bcm-qspi: return error if neither hif_mspi nor mspi is available

> A null pointer dereference in the Broadcom QSPI driver causes a kernel crash during device removal if specific resources are missing.

- **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:** 7 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53658, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53658, GHSA-f5pr-pcc8-pgcp, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53658

## What is CVE-2023-53658?

CVE-2023-53658 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 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:

spi: bcm-qspi: return error if neither hif_mspi nor mspi is available

If neither a "hif_mspi" nor "mspi" resource is present, the driver will
just early exit in probe but still return success. Apart from not doing
anything meaningful, this would then also lead to a null pointer access
on removal, as platform_get_drvdata() would return NULL, which it would
then try to dereference when trying to unregister the spi master.

Fix this by unconditionally calling devm_ioremap_resource(), as it can
handle a NULL res and will then return a viable ERR_PTR() if we get one.

The "return 0;" was previously a "goto qspi_resource_err;" where then
ret was returned, but since ret was still initialized to 0 at this place
this was a valid conversion in 63c5395bb7a9 ("spi: bcm-qspi: Fix
use-after-free on unbind"). The issue was not introduced by this commit,
only made more obvious.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53658?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53658?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53658 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53658 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-2023-53658 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53658 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 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-2023-53658 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-2023-53658/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53658/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53658
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53658
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53658

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53658/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.