Reproduction steps:
1. Open the attached “ReproProj” project
2. Open the “Assets/Scenes/SampleScene.unity“ Scene
3. Enter the Play Mode
Expected result: The Play Mode is entered and “MissingReferenceException” error is shown
Actual result: The Editor crashes
Reproducible with: 2023.1.0b17
Not reproducible with: 2021.3.43f1, 2022.3.43f1, 6000.0.16f1
Fixed in: 2023.1.0b18
Reproducible on: Windows 10
Not reproducible on: No other environment tested
Workaround: Reasign the GameObject which has been incorrectly serialized
First few lines of the stack trace: