CVE-2023-53302: 
Linux Kernel vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2023-53302 is a vulnerability in the Linux kernel affecting the iwl4965 WiFi driver component. The vulnerability was discovered and disclosed on September 16, 2025. The issue stems from a missing check for the return value of the create_singlethread_workqueue() function, which could potentially lead to a NULL pointer dereference (NVD).

The vulnerability exists in the iwl4965 WiFi driver of the Linux kernel where there is a failure to properly validate the return value of create_singlethread_workqueue(). This missing validation check could result in a NULL pointer dereference condition. The issue affects multiple Linux kernel versions and has been assigned a medium priority status (Ubuntu).

If exploited, this vulnerability could lead to a NULL pointer dereference, potentially causing system crashes or denial of service conditions in affected systems running the iwl4965 WiFi driver (NVD).

Fixes have been released for various Linux distributions. Ubuntu has released patches for multiple versions including Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (5.15.0-75.82), 20.04 LTS (5.4.0-152.169), and various other kernel variants. The vulnerability has been addressed in the mainline kernel through the addition of proper return value checking for create_singlethread_workqueue() (Ubuntu).