What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2023-53681: bcache: Fix __bch_btree_node_alloc to make the failure behavior consistent

• Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2025-10-07 · updated 2026-10-28
• Weakness: CWE-476

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bcache: Fix __bch_btree_node_alloc to make the failure behavior consistent In some specific situations, the return value of __bch_btree_node_alloc may be NULL. This may lead to a potential NULL pointer dereference in caller function like a calling chain : btree_split->bch_btree_node_alloc->__bch_btree_node_alloc. Fix it by initializing the return value in __bch_btree_node_alloc.

Affected products

• Linux kernel: from 3.10 before 4.19.291; from 4.20 before 5.4.253; from 5.5 before 5.10.188; from 5.11 before 5.15.121; from 5.16 before 6.1.39; from 6.2 before 6.4.4 — fixed in 4.19.291, 5.4.253, 5.10.188, 5.15.121, 6.1.39, 6.4.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 4.19.291, 5.4.253, 5.10.188, 5.15.121. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4514847aee18d9391a0cf3aad75d3567c72795a4
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/587b4e8bb5dac682f09280ab35db4632b29d5ac4
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7ecea5ce3dc17339c280c75b58ac93d8c8620d9f
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/80fca8a10b604afad6c14213fdfd816c4eda3ee4
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a4405f6ee03323410d7b10966fd67b35f71b1944
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b070f29a61436f6f8a2e3abc7ea4f4be81695198
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f67b0e3081f2a24170280a33ac66f6b112083c03

Get alerted when CVE-2023-53681 or the next vulnerability affects your stack