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🛡️ CVE-2023-53851 — kernel

🟠 CVSS 8.4 — High ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
8.4
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

drm/msm/dp: Drop aux devices together with DP controller

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

drm/msm/dp: Drop aux devices together with DP controller

Using devres to depopulate the aux bus made sure that upon a probe

deferral the EDP panel device would be destroyed and recreated upon next

attempt.

But the struct device which the devres is tied to is the DPUs

(drm_dev->dev), which may be happen after the DP controller is torn

down.

Indications of this can be seen in the commonly seen EDID-hexdump full

of zeros in the log, or the occasional/rare KASAN fault where the

panel's attempt to read the EDID information causes a use after free on

DP resources.

It's tempting to move the devres to the DP controller's struct device,

but the resources used by the device(s) on the aux bus are explicitly

torn down in the error path. The KASAN-reported use-after-free also

remains, as the DP aux "module" explicitly frees its devres-allocated

memory in this code path.

As such, explicitly depopulate the aux bus in the error path, and in the

component unbind path, to avoid these issues.

Patchwork: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/542163/

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Integrity impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Affected software

CVE-2023-53851 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.4.0 up to 6.4.4)
  • unknown

Timeline and source

Published on 9 December 2025 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

Other advisories for this package

kernel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

CVE-2023-53851 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity High
CVSS Score 8.4
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-12-09
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.4.0 6.4.4
unknown — —

Similar Threats

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ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the vulnerabilities listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.

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