CVE-2023-53681: Linux Kernel

Medium severity, CVSS 5.5. EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

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 Linux Kernel: from 3.10, before 4.19.291 (fixed in 4.19.291); from 4.20, before 5.4.253 (fixed in 5.4.253); from 5.5, before 5.10.188 (fixed in 5.10.188); from 5.11, before 5.15.121 (fixed in 5.15.121); from 5.16, before 6.1.39 (fixed in 6.1.39); from 6.2, before 6.4.4 (fixed in 6.4.4)

Published 2025-10-07. Last modified 2026-06-17.