CVE-2023-53480 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kobject: Add sanity check for kset->kobj.ktype in kset_register() When I register a kset in the following way: static struct kset my_kset; kobject_set_name(&my_kset.kobj, "my_kset"); ret = kset_register(&my_kset); A null pointer dereference exception is occurred: [ 4453.568337] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at \ virtual address 0000000000000028 ... ... [ 4453.810361] Call trace: [ 4453.813062] kobject_get_ownership+0xc/0x34 [ 4453.817493] kobject_add_internal+0x98/0x274 [ 4453.822005] kset_register+0x5c/0xb4 [ 4453.825820] my_kobj_init+0x44/0x1000 [my_kset] ... ... Because I didn't initialize my_kset.kobj.ktype. According to the description in Documentation/core-api/kobject.rst: - A ktype is the type of object that embeds a kobject. Every structure that embeds a kobject needs a corresponding ktype. So add sanity check to make sure kset->kobj.ktype is not NULL.

#	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-2023-53480

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2023-53480 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-2023-53480
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53480
`suse`	medium	—	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53480/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2023-53480 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 162, released 141, not-affected 71, needed 20, needs-triage 3.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53480

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53480

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 4.19, < 4.19.295	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 4.20, < 5.4.257	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.5, < 5.10.197	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.11, < 5.15.133	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.16, < 6.1.55	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.2, < 6.5.5	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::

References for CVE-2023-53480

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/039ec9db2d30032eafa365f5f89b30eca5322b05	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1a772881bc059c596d8ca587cbd2a233edce3d3b	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/48aebbe801e78a8932404c122ed0e880ccedc220	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4d0fe8c52bb3029d83e323c961221156ab98680b	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5df5829158513134ddcaf2184d9286eda7b0bb18	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/964e025ceefdf75da46b0133d0c2790de451aeec	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f3f6bf22a4f5ba649cf26ae4670de5c7f861bdef	Patch

URL

CVE-2023-53480 | kobject: Add sanity check for kset->kobj.ktype in kset_register()

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-53480

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53480

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53480

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53480

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53480

References for CVE-2023-53480