Linux Kernel up to 6.1.30/6.3.4 fuel_gauge_external_power_changed psy null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.30/6.3.4. This affects the function fuel_gauge_external_power_changed. Such manipulation of the argument psy leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2023-53310. No exploit is available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.30/6.3.4. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is the function fuel_gauge_external_power_changed. The manipulation of the argument psy with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: power: supply: axp288_fuel_gauge: Fix external_power_changed race fuel_gauge_external_power_changed() dereferences info->bat, which gets sets in axp288_fuel_gauge_probe() like this: info->bat = devm_power_supply_register(dev, &fuel_gauge_desc, &psy_cfg); As soon as devm_power_supply_register() has called device_add() the external_power_changed callback can get called. So there is a window where fuel_gauge_external_power_changed() may get called while info->bat has not been set yet leading to a NULL pointer dereference. Fixing this is easy. The external_power_changed callback gets passed the power_supply which will eventually get stored in info->bat, so fuel_gauge_external_power_changed() can simply directly use the passed in psy argument which is always valid.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2023-53310 since 09/16/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 265631 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53310), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.31 or 6.3.5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 0456b912121e45b3ef54abe3135e5dcb541f956c/a636c6ba9ce898207f283271cb28511206ab739b/f8319774d6f1567d6e7d03653174ab0c82c5c66d 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 (265631) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2077). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 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
• 6.1.16
• 6.1.17
• 6.1.18
• 6.1.19
• 6.1.20
• 6.1.21
• 6.1.22
• 6.1.23
• 6.1.24
• 6.1.25
• 6.1.26
• 6.1.27
• 6.1.28
• 6.1.29
• 6.1.30
• 6.3.0
• 6.3.1
• 6.3.2
• 6.3.3
• 6.3.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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