Security Resilience

CVE-2023-53336

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 5.16 – 6.4.16

Memory Safety
Published
17 September 2025
Modified
03 October 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0021 10th percentile
Risk Priority 41 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-53336 is a medium-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Credential Dumping (T1003); ranked at the 10th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A10:2025 Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: ipu-bridge: Fix null pointer deref on SSDB/PLD parsing warnings When ipu_bridge_parse_rotation() and ipu_bridge_parse_orientation() run sensor->adev is not set yet. So if either of the dev_warn() calls about unknown values…

more

are hit this will lead to a NULL pointer deref. Set sensor->adev earlier, with a borrowed ref to avoid making unrolling on errors harder, to fix this.

CWE(s)
CWE-476

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access
Adversaries may gather credentials from the proc filesystem or `/proc`.
attack.mitre.org →
T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
attack.mitre.org →
T1006 Direct Volume Access Stealth
Adversaries may directly access a volume to bypass file access controls and file system monitoring.
attack.mitre.org →
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
attack.mitre.org →
T1012 Query Registry Discovery
Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-38144Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-35946Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-46755Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-43013Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-35945Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-56667Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2025-38316Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-22983Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-53318Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2025-21637Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
5.16 — 6.4.16 · 6.5 — 6.5.3

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation (including static analysis) directly finds null-dereference bugs before deployment.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Documented development standards and tools can enforce null-safety rules and safe pointer usage.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles can mandate defensive coding such as explicit null checks before dereference.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

References