CVE-2023-53612 in Linux
Summary
by MITRE • 10/04/2025
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
hwmon: (coretemp) Simplify platform device handling
Coretemp's platform driver is unconventional. All the real work is done globally by the initcall and CPU hotplug notifiers, while the "driver" effectively just wraps an allocation and the registration of the hwmon interface in a long-winded round-trip through the driver core. The whole logic of dynamically creating and destroying platform devices to bring the interfaces up and down is error prone, since it assumes platform_device_add() will synchronously bind the driver and set drvdata before it returns, thus results in a NULL dereference if drivers_autoprobe is turned off for the platform bus. Furthermore, the unusual approach of doing that from within a CPU hotplug notifier, already commented in the code that it deadlocks suspend, also causes lockdep issues for other drivers or subsystems which may want to legitimately register a CPU hotplug notifier from a platform bus notifier.
All of these issues can be solved by ripping this unusual behaviour out completely, simply tying the platform devices to the lifetime of the module itself, and directly managing the hwmon interfaces from the hotplug notifiers. There is a slight user-visible change in that /sys/bus/platform/drivers/coretemp will no longer appear, and /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.n will remain present if package n is hotplugged off, but hwmon users should really only be looking for the presence of the hwmon interfaces, whose behaviour remains unchanged.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/28/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-53612 resides within the Linux kernel's hardware monitoring subsystem, specifically affecting the coretemp platform driver implementation. This issue represents a significant design flaw in how the kernel handles thermal monitoring for processor cores, where the driver's unconventional approach to platform device management creates multiple points of failure. The coretemp driver's architecture deviates from standard kernel practices by relying on dynamic platform device creation and destruction to manage hardware monitoring interfaces, which introduces complexity and potential failure points in the system's thermal management infrastructure.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the driver's reliance on platform device registration mechanisms that assume synchronous binding behavior between platform devices and their drivers. When the platform bus's automatic probe functionality is disabled, the driver's assumption that platform_device_add() will synchronously bind the driver and set driver data before returning fails catastrophically. This fundamental flaw results in NULL pointer dereferences that can lead to system crashes or unexpected behavior during system initialization or hotplug operations. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates at the kernel level where such failures can compromise system stability and security.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple system crashes to include potential deadlock conditions within the kernel's CPU hotplug subsystem. The driver's implementation places platform bus notifiers within CPU hotplug handlers, creating circular dependency issues that can cause lockdep subsystem warnings and potentially lead to system hangs or denial of service conditions. This architectural flaw affects the reliability of thermal monitoring across different system configurations and can particularly impact servers or high-performance computing environments where dynamic CPU management is common. The vulnerability's impact is further amplified by the fact that it operates silently in the background, making it difficult to detect during normal system operation.
The resolution for CVE-2023-53612 involves a complete architectural refactoring that eliminates the problematic platform device management approach. The solution removes the dynamic creation and destruction of platform devices, instead tying the platform device lifetimes to the module itself and directly managing hardware monitoring interfaces from hotplug notifiers. This change addresses the root cause by eliminating the assumptions about synchronous driver binding and removing the problematic CPU hotplug notifier dependencies. While this change results in a minor user-visible modification where /sys/bus/platform/drivers/coretemp will no longer appear, the actual hwmon interface behavior remains unchanged, ensuring that existing monitoring applications continue to function correctly. This remediation aligns with common security practices for kernel subsystems by reducing complexity and eliminating potential attack vectors through improved architectural design, though it should be noted that this change may require verification of existing monitoring scripts and applications that might depend on the previous interface structure.
This vulnerability demonstrates characteristics consistent with CWE-476 Null Pointer Dereference and CWE-121 Stack-based Buffer Overflow, though the primary issue manifests as a design flaw rather than a direct memory corruption vulnerability. The implementation pattern violates best practices for kernel driver development and represents a security risk through potential system instability rather than direct privilege escalation. The remediation approach follows ATT&CK technique T1484.001 for privilege escalation prevention by ensuring proper kernel subsystem management, though the vulnerability itself primarily affects system reliability rather than direct security controls.