# CVE-2023-53784: drm: bridge: dw_hdmi: fix connector access for scdc

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's DW-HDMI driver can cause a system crash when accessing SCDC debug information.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53784, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53784, GHSA-phmc-8r45-84x7, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53784

## What is CVE-2023-53784?

CVE-2023-53784 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 9 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:

drm: bridge: dw_hdmi: fix connector access for scdc

Commit 5d844091f237 ("drm/scdc-helper: Pimp SCDC debugs") changed the scdc
interface to pick up an i2c adapter from a connector instead. However, in
the case of dw-hdmi, the wrong connector was being used to pass i2c adapter
information, since dw-hdmi's embedded connector structure is only populated
when the bridge attachment callback explicitly asks for it.

drm-meson is handling connector creation, so this won't happen, leading to
a NULL pointer dereference.

Fix it by having scdc functions access dw-hdmi's current connector pointer
instead, which is assigned during the bridge enablement stage.

[narmstrong: moved Fixes tag before first S-o-b and added Reported-by tag]

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53784?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-53784?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53784 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53784 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-53784 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53784 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 9 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-2023-53784 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-2023-53784/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53784/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53784
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53784
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53784

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53784/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.