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CVE-2023-53856 (GCVE-0-2023-53856)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2025-12-09 01:30 – Updated: 2026-05-11 19:52
VLAI
Title
of: overlay: Call of_changeset_init() early
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: of: overlay: Call of_changeset_init() early When of_overlay_fdt_apply() fails, the changeset may be partially applied, and the caller is still expected to call of_overlay_remove() to clean up this partial state. However, of_overlay_apply() calls of_resolve_phandles() before init_overlay_changeset(). Hence if the overlay fails to apply due to an unresolved symbol, the overlay_changeset.cset.entries list is still uninitialized, and cleanup will crash with a NULL-pointer dereference in overlay_removal_is_ok(). Fix this by moving the call to of_changeset_init() from init_overlay_changeset() to of_overlay_fdt_apply(), where all other early initialization is done.
Severity
No CVSS data available.
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
Linux Linux Affected: f948d6d8b792bb90041edc12eac35faf83030994 , < 01bb96ad38089f5cc6de7746dac13437d35eb1dc (git)
Affected: f948d6d8b792bb90041edc12eac35faf83030994 , < 3fb210cd521c9efcb211e9f5ce40fc907200bf13 (git)
Affected: f948d6d8b792bb90041edc12eac35faf83030994 , < be86241bf5d1efd16d8a7231c13b33459c5d755d (git)
Affected: f948d6d8b792bb90041edc12eac35faf83030994 , < c403c81b577a67fe9ec6a2e89d143256487be50f (git)
Affected: f948d6d8b792bb90041edc12eac35faf83030994 , < a9515ff4fb142b690a0d2b58782b15903b990dba (git)
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Linux Linux Affected: 4.15
Unaffected: 0 , < 4.15 (semver)
Unaffected: 5.15.132 , ≤ 5.15.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.1.53 , ≤ 6.1.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.4.16 , ≤ 6.4.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.5.3 , ≤ 6.5.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.6 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
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{
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      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/of/overlay.c"
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      "cpeApplicability": [
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          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nof: overlay: Call of_changeset_init() early\n\nWhen of_overlay_fdt_apply() fails, the changeset may be partially\napplied, and the caller is still expected to call of_overlay_remove() to\nclean up this partial state.\n\nHowever, of_overlay_apply() calls of_resolve_phandles() before\ninit_overlay_changeset().  Hence if the overlay fails to apply due to an\nunresolved symbol, the overlay_changeset.cset.entries list is still\nuninitialized, and cleanup will crash with a NULL-pointer dereference in\noverlay_removal_is_ok().\n\nFix this by moving the call to of_changeset_init() from\ninit_overlay_changeset() to of_overlay_fdt_apply(), where all other\nearly initialization is done."
        }
      ],
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        "shortName": "Linux"
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    "datePublished": "2025-12-09T01:30:22.012Z",
    "dateReserved": "2025-12-09T01:27:17.828Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-05-11T19:52:50.630Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
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      "percentile": "0.13773"
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            "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nof: overlay: Call of_changeset_init() early\n\nWhen of_overlay_fdt_apply() fails, the changeset may be partially\napplied, and the caller is still expected to call of_overlay_remove() to\nclean up this partial state.\n\nHowever, of_overlay_apply() calls of_resolve_phandles() before\ninit_overlay_changeset().  Hence if the overlay fails to apply due to an\nunresolved symbol, the overlay_changeset.cset.entries list is still\nuninitialized, and cleanup will crash with a NULL-pointer dereference in\noverlay_removal_is_ok().\n\nFix this by moving the call to of_changeset_init() from\ninit_overlay_changeset() to of_overlay_fdt_apply(), where all other\nearly initialization is done."
          }
        ],
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        "metrics": {},
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      "cve": "CVE-2023-53856",
      "id": "CVE-2023-53856",
      "initial_release_date": "2023-01-01T00:00:00+00:00",
      "product_status:known_affected": "48",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "226",
      "source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "kernel: of: overlay: Call of_changeset_init() early",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2023/cve-2023-53856.json",
      "version": "3"
    }
  }
}



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Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.

Sightings

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Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.


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