BaseFortify

Publication date: 2025-10-04

Last updated on: 2026-03-23

Assigner: kernel.org

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: qla2xxx: Avoid fcport pointer dereference Klocwork reported warning of NULL pointer may be dereferenced. The routine exits when sa_ctl is NULL and fcport is allocated after the exit call thus causing NULL fcport pointer to dereference at the time of exit. To avoid fcport pointer dereference, exit the routine when sa_ctl is NULL.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2025-10-04

Last Modified

2026-03-23

Generated

2026-07-06

AI Q&A

2025-10-04

EPSS Evaluated

2026-07-05

NVD

CVE-2023-53603

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
linux	linux_kernel	From 6.2 (inc) to 6.4.5 (inc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-476	The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.

Attack-Flow Graph

Impact Analysis

A NULL pointer dereference in kernel code can cause system instability, crashes, or denial of service. If exploited, it may lead to unexpected system behavior or downtime, impacting system availability.

Executive Summary

This vulnerability in the Linux kernel's scsi qla2xxx driver involves a NULL pointer dereference. Specifically, the code attempts to dereference a pointer named fcport after an exit condition when sa_ctl is NULL, leading to a potential NULL pointer dereference. The fix involves exiting the routine earlier when sa_ctl is NULL to avoid dereferencing the fcport pointer.

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