# 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.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 8 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53747, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53747, GHSA-286m-g766-wcgx, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53747

## 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.

## Is CVE-2023-53747 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53747 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-53747 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53747 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2023-53747/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53747/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53747
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53747
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53747

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53747/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.