CVE-2023-53837 drm/msm: fix NULL-deref on snapshot tear down
A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's DRM MSM driver can cause a system crash during initialization errors or on specific platforms.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-53837?
CVE-2023-53837 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/msm: fix NULL-deref on snapshot tear down
In case of early initialisation errors and on platforms that do not use the DPU controller, the deinitilisation code can be called with the kms pointer set to NULL.
Patchwork: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/525099/
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53837?
How do I fix CVE-2023-53837?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2023-53837 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53837 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53837, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53837, GHSA-4m3g-fqr7-qqgh, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53837.