Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-53480)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-53480). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 4.19.295, 5.4.257, 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

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.

Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD OSV

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-53480 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 4.19.295, 5.4.257, 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2023-53480" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2023-53480 (Kernel)
Patched: 4.19.295, 5.4.257, 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

A vulnerability (unclassified) exists in Kernel.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Kernel.

🔥 Severity

Severity: ?. Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.

🔧 How to fix

Update to 4.19.295, 5.4.257, 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'Kernel' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

1
Identify exposure identify
```
grep -r 'Kernel' . | grep -v node_modules
```
リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で Kernel を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。
2
Apply patch patch
```
Upgrade Kernel to 4.19.295, 5.4.257, 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5
```
ステージング環境で 4.19.295, 5.4.257, 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
3
Post-deployment verification verify
```
Confirm patched version is live in production
```
パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Affected packages

Linux Kernel

[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"4.19.0"},{"fixed":"4.19.295"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"4.20.0"},{"fixed":"5.4.257"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.5.0"},{"fixed":"5.10.197"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.11.0"},{"fixed":"5.15.133"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.16.0"},{"fixed":"6.1.55"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.2.0"},{"fixed":"6.5.5"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53480 linux Fixed in: 5.10.197-1
Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53480 linux