Kernel panic via dangling DRM device pointer
Published Sep 18, 2025 · Updated Sep 18, 2025
Use-after-free in the MediaTek DRM driver in the Linux kernel allows local users to trigger a kernel panic during system suspend. When mtk_drm_bind() fails, drm_dev_put() frees the drm_device while the private object retains its pointer, which mtk_drm_sys_prepare() later passes to DRM. Reachability requires a MediaTek DRM bind failure followed by system suspend; dereferencing the stale device pointer then crashes the kernel.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in the MediaTek DRM driver in the Linux kernel allows local users to trigger a kernel panic during system suspend. When mtk_drm_bind() fails, drm_dev_put() frees the drm_device while the private object retains its pointer, which mtk_drm_sys_prepare() later passes to DRM. Reachability requires a MediaTek DRM bind failure followed by system suspend; dereferencing the stale device pointer then crashes the kernel.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-53388
- Published
- Sep 18, 2025
- Updated
- Sep 18, 2025
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 18, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 18, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=119f5173628aa7a0c3cf9db83460d40709e8241d <36aa8c61af55675ed967900fbe5deb32d776f051
- Affected versionversion=119f5173628aa7a0c3cf9db83460d40709e8241d <49cf87919daeeeeeb9e924c39bdd9203af434461
- Affected versionversion=119f5173628aa7a0c3cf9db83460d40709e8241d <6a89ddee1686a8872384aaa9f0bcfa6b675acd86
- Affected versionversion=119f5173628aa7a0c3cf9db83460d40709e8241d <7b551a501fa714890e55bae73efede1185728d72
- Affected versionversion=119f5173628aa7a0c3cf9db83460d40709e8241d <9a48f99aa7bea15e0b1d8b0040c46b4792eddf3b
- Affected versionversion=119f5173628aa7a0c3cf9db83460d40709e8241d <a161f1d92aabb3b8463f752bdc3474dc3a5ec0e5
- Affected versionversion=119f5173628aa7a0c3cf9db83460d40709e8241d <f3887c771576c5d740c5c5b8bf654a8ab8020b7d
- Affected versionversion=4.7
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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