Linux Kernel up to 5.10.162/5.15.86/6.0.18/6.1.4 intel_gvt_debugfs_clean null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.162/5.15.86/6.0.18/6.1.4 and classified as critical. Affected by this issue is the function intel_gvt_debugfs_clean. The manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2023-54098. No exploit is available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.162/5.15.86/6.0.18/6.1.4. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects the function intel_gvt_debugfs_clean. The manipulation 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. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/i915/gvt: fix gvt debugfs destroy When gvt debug fs is destroyed, need to have a sane check if drm minor's debugfs root is still available or not, otherwise in case like device remove through unbinding, drm minor's debugfs directory has already been removed, then intel_gvt_debugfs_clean() would act upon dangling pointer like below oops. i915 0000:00:02.0: Direct firmware load for i915/gvt/vid_0x8086_did_0x1926_rid_0x0a.golden_hw_state failed with error -2 i915 0000:00:02.0: MDEV: Registered Console: switching to colour dummy device 80x25 i915 0000:00:02.0: MDEV: Unregistering BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000a0 PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI CPU: 2 PID: 2486 Comm: gfx-unbind.sh Tainted: G I 6.1.0-rc8+ #15 Hardware name: Dell Inc. XPS 13 9350/0JXC1H, BIOS 1.13.0 02/10/2020 RIP: 0010:down_write+0x1f/0x90 Code: 1d ff ff 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 53 48 89 fb e8 62 c0 ff ff bf 01 00 00 00 e8 28 5e 31 ff 31 c0 ba 01 00 00 00 <f0> 48 0f b1 13 75 33 65 48 8b 04 25 c0 bd 01 00 48 89 43 08 bf 01 RSP: 0018:ffff9eb3036ffcc8 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 00000000000000a0 RCX: ffffff8100000000 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000064 RDI: ffffffffa48787a8 RBP: ffff9eb3036ffd30 R08: ffffeb1fc45a0608 R09: ffffeb1fc45a05c0 R10: 0000000000000002 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: ffff91acc33fa328 R14: ffff91acc033f080 R15: ffff91acced533e0 FS: 00007f6947bba740(0000) GS:ffff91ae36d00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00000000000000a0 CR3: 00000001133a2002 CR4: 00000000003706e0 Call Trace: <TASK> simple_recursive_removal+0x9f/0x2a0 ? start_creating.part.0+0x120/0x120 ? _raw_spin_lock+0x13/0x40 debugfs_remove+0x40/0x60 intel_gvt_debugfs_clean+0x15/0x30 [kvmgt] intel_gvt_clean_device+0x49/0xe0 [kvmgt] intel_gvt_driver_remove+0x2f/0xb0 i915_driver_remove+0xa4/0xf0 i915_pci_remove+0x1a/0x30 pci_device_remove+0x33/0xa0 device_release_driver_internal+0x1b2/0x230 unbind_store+0xe0/0x110 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x11b/0x1f0 vfs_write+0x203/0x3d0 ksys_write+0x63/0xe0 do_syscall_64+0x37/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd RIP: 0033:0x7f6947cb5190 Code: 40 00 48 8b 15 71 9c 0d 00 f7 d8 64 89 02 48 c7 c0 ff ff ff ff eb b7 0f 1f 00 80 3d 51 24 0e 00 00 74 17 b8 01 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 58 c3 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 48 83 ec 28 48 89 RSP: 002b:00007ffcbac45a28 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 000000000000000d RCX: 00007f6947cb5190 RDX: 000000000000000d RSI: 0000555e35c866a0 RDI: 0000000000000001 RBP: 0000555e35c866a0 R08: 0000000000000002 R09: 0000555e358cb97c R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 0000000000000001 R13: 000000000000000d R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000555e358cb8e0 </TASK> Modules linked in: kvmgt CR2: 00000000000000a0 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-54098 since 12/24/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279848 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-54098), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.10.163, 5.15.87, 6.0.19 or 6.1.5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch bb7c7b2c89d2feb347b6f9bffc1c75987adb1048/ae9a61511736cc71a99f01e8b7b90f6fb6128ed8/b85c8536fda3d1ed07c6d87a661ffe18d6eb214b/fe340500baf84b6531c9fc508b167525b9bf6446/c4b850d1f448a901fbf4f7f36dec38c84009b489 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 (279848) 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

• 5.10.162
• 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
• 6.0.0
• 6.0.1
• 6.0.2
• 6.0.3
• 6.0.4
• 6.0.5
• 6.0.6
• 6.0.7
• 6.0.8
• 6.0.9
• 6.0.10
• 6.0.11
• 6.0.12
• 6.0.13
• 6.0.14
• 6.0.15
• 6.0.16
• 6.0.17
• 6.0.18
• 6.1.0
• 6.1.1
• 6.1.2
• 6.1.3
• 6.1.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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