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Vulnerability · Published Sep 15, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-53260ovl: fix null pointer dereference in ovl_permission()

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity null pointer dereference in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.1% (higher than 4% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.1%top 96.1% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ovl: fix null pointer dereference in ovl_permission() Following process: P1 P2 path_lookupat link_path_walk inode_permission ovl_permission ovl_i_path_real(inode, &realpath) path->dentry = ovl_i_dentry_upper(inode) drop_cache __dentry_kill(ovl_dentry) iput(ovl_inode) ovl_destroy_inode(ovl_inode) dput(oi->__upperdentry) dentry_kill(upperdentry) dentry_unlink_inode upperdentry->d_inode = NULL realinode = d_inode(realpath.dentry) // return NULL inode_permission(realinode) inode->i_sb // NULL pointer dereference , will trigger an null pointer dereference at realinode: [ 335.664979] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000002 [ 335.668032] CPU: 0 PID: 2592 Comm: ls Not tainted 6.3.0 [ 335.669956] RIP: 0010:inode_permission+0x33/0x2c0 [ 335.678939] Call Trace: [ 335.679165] <TASK> [ 335.679371] ovl_permission+0xde/0x320 [ 335.679723] inode_permission+0x15e/0x2c0 [ 335.680090] link_path_walk+0x115/0x550 [ 335.680771] path_lookupat.isra.0+0xb2/0x200 [ 335.681170] filename_lookup+0xda/0x240 [ 335.681922] vfs_statx+0xa6/0x1f0 [ 335.682233] vfs_fstatat+0x7b/0xb0 Fetch a reproducer in [Link]. Use the helper ovl_i_path_realinode() to get realinode and then do non-nullptr checking.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.52-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53260
Debian:13linux6.4.4-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53260
Debian:14linux6.4.4-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53260

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 4b7791b2e95805eaa9568761741d33cf929c930c – before 53dd2ca2c02fdcfe3aad2345091d371063f97d174b7791b2e95805eaa9568761741d33cf929c930c – before 69f9ae7edf9ec0ff500429101923347fcba5c8c44b7791b2e95805eaa9568761741d33cf929c930c – before 1a73f5b8f079fd42a544c1600beface50c63af7c
Linux Linux 5.19

Weakness: CWE-476 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

References