Linux Kernel up to 5.15.98/6.1.15/6.2.2 dmi-sysfs dmi-sysfs.c kobject_put uninitialized pointer

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.98/6.1.15/6.2.2. Affected by this vulnerability is the function kobject_put of the file drivers/firmware/dmi-sysfs.c of the component dmi-sysfs. The manipulation leads to uninitialized pointer. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2023-53250. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.98/6.1.15/6.2.2. This issue affects the function kobject_put of the file drivers/firmware/dmi-sysfs.c of the component dmi-sysfs. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a uninitialized pointer vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-824. The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: firmware: dmi-sysfs: Fix null-ptr-deref in dmi_sysfs_register_handle KASAN reported a null-ptr-deref error: KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000008-0x000000000000000f] CPU: 0 PID: 1373 Comm: modprobe Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996) RIP: 0010:dmi_sysfs_entry_release ... Call Trace: <TASK> kobject_put dmi_sysfs_register_handle (drivers/firmware/dmi-sysfs.c:540) dmi_sysfs dmi_decode_table (drivers/firmware/dmi_scan.c:133) dmi_walk (drivers/firmware/dmi_scan.c:1115) dmi_sysfs_init (drivers/firmware/dmi-sysfs.c:149) dmi_sysfs do_one_initcall (init/main.c:1296) ... Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception Kernel Offset: 0x4000000 from 0xffffffff81000000 ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception ]--- It is because previous patch added kobject_put() to release the memory which will call dmi_sysfs_entry_release() and list_del(). However, list_add_tail(entry->list) is called after the error block, so the list_head is uninitialized and cannot be deleted. Move error handling to after list_add_tail to fix this.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-53250 since 09/15/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/11/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 278484 (EulerOS 2.0 SP13 : kernel (EulerOS-SA-2025-2501)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.15.99, 6.1.16 or 6.2.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b4fe158259fb5fead52ff2b55841ec5c39492604/e851996b32264e78a10863c2ac41a8689d7b9252/5d0492d1d934642bdfd2057acc1b56f4b57be465/18e126e97c961f7a93823795c879d7c085fe5098 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (278484) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2053). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway
• F5 F5OS

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.15.0
• 5.15.1
• 5.15.2
• 5.15.3
• 5.15.4
• 5.15.5
• 5.15.6
• 5.15.7
• 5.15.8
• 5.15.9
• 5.15.10
• 5.15.11
• 5.15.12
• 5.15.13
• 5.15.14
• 5.15.15
• 5.15.16
• 5.15.17
• 5.15.18
• 5.15.19
• 5.15.20
• 5.15.21
• 5.15.22
• 5.15.23
• 5.15.24
• 5.15.25
• 5.15.26
• 5.15.27
• 5.15.28
• 5.15.29
• 5.15.30
• 5.15.31
• 5.15.32
• 5.15.33
• 5.15.34
• 5.15.35
• 5.15.36
• 5.15.37
• 5.15.38
• 5.15.39
• 5.15.40
• 5.15.41
• 5.15.42
• 5.15.43
• 5.15.44
• 5.15.45
• 5.15.46
• 5.15.47
• 5.15.48
• 5.15.49
• 5.15.50
• 5.15.51
• 5.15.52
• 5.15.53
• 5.15.54
• 5.15.55
• 5.15.56
• 5.15.57
• 5.15.58
• 5.15.59
• 5.15.60
• 5.15.61
• 5.15.62
• 5.15.63
• 5.15.64
• 5.15.65
• 5.15.66
• 5.15.67
• 5.15.68
• 5.15.69
• 5.15.70
• 5.15.71
• 5.15.72
• 5.15.73
• 5.15.74
• 5.15.75
• 5.15.76
• 5.15.77
• 5.15.78
• 5.15.79
• 5.15.80
• 5.15.81
• 5.15.82
• 5.15.83
• 5.15.84
• 5.15.85
• 5.15.86
• 5.15.87
• 5.15.88
• 5.15.89
• 5.15.90
• 5.15.91
• 5.15.92
• 5.15.93
• 5.15.94
• 5.15.95
• 5.15.96
• 5.15.97
• 5.15.98
• 6.1.0
• 6.1.1
• 6.1.2
• 6.1.3
• 6.1.4
• 6.1.5
• 6.1.6
• 6.1.7
• 6.1.8
• 6.1.9
• 6.1.10
• 6.1.11
• 6.1.12
• 6.1.13
• 6.1.14
• 6.1.15
• 6.2.0
• 6.2.1
• 6.2.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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