CVE-2023-53747 vc_screen: reload load of struct vc_data pointer in vcs_write() to avoid UAF
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's vc_screen module allows local attackers to potentially execute code or escalate privileges.
- 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-2023-53747?
CVE-2023-53747 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 8 Dec 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:
vc_screen: reload load of struct vc_data pointer in vcs_write() to avoid UAF
After a call to console_unlock() in vcs_write() the vc_data struct can be freed by vc_port_destruct(). Because of that, the struct vc_data pointer must be reloaded in the while loop in vcs_write() after console_lock() to avoid a UAF when vcs_size() is called.
Syzkaller reported a UAF in vcs_size().
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in vcs_size (drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c:215) Read of size 4 at addr ffff8880beab89a8 by task repro_vcs_size/4119
Call Trace: <TASK> __asan_report_load4_noabort (mm/kasan/report_generic.c:380) vcs_size (drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c:215) vcs_write (drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c:664) vfs_write (fs/read_write.c:582 fs/read_write.c:564) ... <TASK>
Allocated by task 1213: kmalloc_trace (mm/slab_common.c:1064) vc_allocate (./include/linux/slab.h:559 ./include/linux/slab.h:680 drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:1078 drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:1058) con_install (drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:3334) tty_init_dev (drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1303 drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1415 drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1392) tty_open (drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2082 drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2128) chrdev_open (fs/char_dev.c:415) do_dentry_open (fs/open.c:921) vfs_open (fs/open.c:1052) ...
Freed by task 4116: kfree (mm/slab_common.c:1016) vc_port_destruct (drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:1044) tty_port_destructor (drivers/tty/tty_port.c:296) tty_port_put (drivers/tty/tty_port.c:312) vt_disallocate_all (drivers/tty/vt/vt_ioctl.c:662 (discriminator 2)) vt_ioctl (drivers/tty/vt/vt_ioctl.c:903) tty_ioctl (drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2778) ...
The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff8880beab8800 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-1k of size 1024 The buggy address is located 424 bytes inside of freed 1024-byte region [ffff8880beab8800, ffff8880beab8c00)
The buggy address belongs to the physical page: page:00000000afc77580 refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0xbeab8 head:00000000afc77580 order:3 entire_mapcount:0 nr_pages_mapped:0 pincount:0 flags: 0xfffffc0010200(slab|head|node=0|zone=1|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) page_type: 0xffffffff() raw: 000fffffc0010200 ffff888100042dc0 ffffea000426de00 dead000000000002 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000100010 00000001ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected
Memory state around the buggy address: ffff8880beab8880: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff8880beab8900: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb >ffff8880beab8980: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ^ ffff8880beab8a00: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff8880beab8a80: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ================================================================== Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53747?
How do I fix CVE-2023-53747?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2023-53747 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53747 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53747, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53747, GHSA-286m-g766-wcgx, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53747.