CVE-2023-53472 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pwm: lpc32xx: Remove handling of PWM channels Because LPC32xx PWM controllers have only a single output which is registered as the only PWM device/channel per controller, it is known in advance that pwm->hwpwm value is always 0. On basis of this fact simplify the code by removing operations with pwm->hwpwm, there is no controls which require channel number as input. Even though I wasn't aware at the time when I forward ported that patch, this fixes a null pointer dereference as lpc32xx->chip.pwms is NULL before devm_pwmchip_add() is called.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-10-01	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2025-10-01

—

0.02%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

3.6

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53472

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2023-53472 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-53472
`redhat`	—	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53472
`suse`	medium	—	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53472/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2023-53472 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 159, released 141, not-affected 79, needed 15, needs-triage 3.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53472

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53472

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 4.9.284, < 4.10	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 4.14.248, < 4.14.326	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 4.19.208, < 4.19.295	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.4.149, < 5.4.257	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.10.69, < 5.10.195	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.14.8, < 5.15.132	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.16, < 6.1.54	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.2, < 6.5.4	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::

References for CVE-2023-53472

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/04301da4d87067a989f70ee56942bf9d97cd2a45	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4aae44f65827f0213a7361cf9c32cfe06114473f	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/523f6268e86552a048975749251184c4e9a4b38f	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5e22217c11424ef958ba28d03ff7167b4d7a8914	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a2d9d884e84bfd37892219b1f55847f36d8e9901	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9a505f5b39d8fff1a55963a5e524c84639e98b2	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/abd9b2ee4047ccd980decbf26d61f9637604b1d5	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e3a0ddbaf7f1f9ffc070718b417461ced3268758	Patch

URL

CVE-2023-53472 | pwm: lpc32xx: Remove handling of PWM channels

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-53472

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53472

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53472

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53472

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53472

References for CVE-2023-53472