# CVE-2023-53833: drm/i915: Fix NULL ptr deref by checking new_crtc_state

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's i915 driver allows local attackers to cause a system crash.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 9 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53833, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53833, GHSA-x2p5-wm9v-xvm5, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53833

## What is CVE-2023-53833?

CVE-2023-53833 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/i915: Fix NULL ptr deref by checking new_crtc_state

intel_atomic_get_new_crtc_state can return NULL, unless crtc state wasn't
obtained previously with intel_atomic_get_crtc_state, so we must check it
for NULLness here, just as in many other places, where we can't guarantee
that intel_atomic_get_crtc_state was called.
We are currently getting NULL ptr deref because of that, so this fix was
confirmed to help.

(cherry picked from commit 1d5b09f8daf859247a1ea65b0d732a24d88980d8)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53833?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-53833?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53833 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53833 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-53833 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53833 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-2023-53833 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-2023-53833/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53833/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53833
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53833
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53833

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53833/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.