Linux Kernel up to 5.10.196/5.15.132/6.1.54/6.5.4 media az6027_i2c_xfer null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.196/5.15.132/6.1.54/6.5.4. Impacted is the function az6027_i2c_xfer of the component media. Performing a manipulation results in null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2023-54066. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.196/5.15.132/6.1.54/6.5.4. It has been classified as critical. This affects the function az6027_i2c_xfer of the component media. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as 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. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: dvb-usb-v2: gl861: Fix null-ptr-deref in gl861_i2c_master_xfer In gl861_i2c_master_xfer, msg is controlled by user. When msg[i].buf is null and msg[i].len is zero, former checks on msg[i].buf would be passed. Malicious data finally reach gl861_i2c_master_xfer. If accessing msg[i].buf[0] without sanity check, null ptr deref would happen. We add check on msg[i].len to prevent crash. Similar commit: commit 0ed554fd769a ("media: dvb-usb: az6027: fix null-ptr-deref in az6027_i2c_xfer()")

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2023-54066 since 12/24/2025. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279924 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-54066), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55 or 6.5.5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 578b67614ae0e4fba3945b66a4c8f9ae77115bcb/2a33fc57133d6f39d62285df6706aeb1714967f1/dfcd3c010209927b9f45b860f046635dc32e32e1/72af676551efe820e309a6c7681c2c4372f37376/b97719a66970601cd3151a3e2020f4454a1c4ff6 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 (279924) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2929). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.196
• 5.15.132
• 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
• 6.1.31
• 6.1.32
• 6.1.33
• 6.1.34
• 6.1.35
• 6.1.36
• 6.1.37
• 6.1.38
• 6.1.39
• 6.1.40
• 6.1.41
• 6.1.42
• 6.1.43
• 6.1.44
• 6.1.45
• 6.1.46
• 6.1.47
• 6.1.48
• 6.1.49
• 6.1.50
• 6.1.51
• 6.1.52
• 6.1.53
• 6.1.54
• 6.5.0
• 6.5.1
• 6.5.2
• 6.5.3
• 6.5.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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