BaseFortify

Publication date: 2025-10-01

Last updated on: 2025-10-02

Assigner: kernel.org

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ionic: catch failure from devlink_alloc Add a check for NULL on the alloc return. If devlink_alloc() fails and we try to use devlink_priv() on the NULL return, the kernel gets very unhappy and panics. With this fix, the driver load will still fail, but at least it won't panic the kernel.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2025-10-01

Last Modified

2025-10-02

Generated

2026-07-06

AI Q&A

2025-10-01

EPSS Evaluated

2026-07-05

NVD

CVE-2023-53470

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
linux	linux_kernel	From 5.15.160 (inc) to 5.16 (inc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability occurs in the Linux kernel's ionic driver where a failure to check for a NULL return from the function devlink_alloc() can lead to a kernel panic. Specifically, if devlink_alloc() fails and returns NULL, subsequent use of devlink_priv() on this NULL pointer causes the kernel to panic. The fix adds a check for NULL to prevent the kernel from panicking, although the driver load will still fail.

Impact Analysis

If this vulnerability is triggered, it can cause the Linux kernel to panic, leading to a system crash or reboot. This can result in downtime, loss of service, and potential disruption of operations on systems using the affected driver.

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