CVE-2023-53648
BaseFortify
Publication date: 2025-10-07
Last updated on: 2026-02-03
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.15.160 (inc) to 5.16 (inc) |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-476 | The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability is a possible NULL pointer dereference in the ALSA ac97 mixer component of the Linux kernel. Specifically, the snd_ac97_mixer function incorrectly assumed that the 'rac97' pointer could never be NULL, which could lead to a NULL dereference and potential kernel crash or instability. The fix involves removing a redundant assignment and adding a check to return an error if 'rac97' is NULL.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
This vulnerability can cause the Linux kernel to crash or become unstable due to a NULL pointer dereference in the ALSA ac97 mixer code. This could lead to denial of service or system instability when the affected sound driver is used.