Linux Kernel up to 6.4.6 ice_start_eth null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.6. It has been classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function ice_start_eth. Performing a manipulation results in null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2023-54037. No exploit exists. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.6. It has been classified as critical. This affects the function ice_start_eth. 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: ice: prevent NULL pointer deref during reload Calling ethtool during reload can lead to call trace, because VSI isn't configured for some time, but netdev is alive. To fix it add rtnl lock for VSI deconfig and config. Set ::num_q_vectors to 0 after freeing and add a check for ::tx/rx_rings in ring related ethtool ops. Add proper unroll of filters in ice_start_eth(). Reproduction: $watch -n 0.1 -d 'ethtool -g enp24s0f0np0' $devlink dev reload pci/0000:18:00.0 action driver_reinit Call trace before fix: [66303.926205] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 [66303.926259] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [66303.926286] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [66303.926311] PGD 0 P4D 0 [66303.926332] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI [66303.926358] CPU: 4 PID: 933821 Comm: ethtool Kdump: loaded Tainted: G OE 6.4.0-rc5+ #1 [66303.926400] Hardware name: Intel Corporation S2600WFT/S2600WFT, BIOS SE5C620.86B.00.01.0014.070920180847 07/09/2018 [66303.926446] RIP: 0010:ice_get_ringparam+0x22/0x50 [ice] [66303.926649] Code: 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 f3 0f 1e fa 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 8b 87 c0 09 00 00 c7 46 04 e0 1f 00 00 c7 46 10 e0 1f 00 00 48 8b 50 20 <48> 8b 12 0f b7 52 3a 89 56 14 48 8b 40 28 48 8b 00 0f b7 40 58 48 [66303.926722] RSP: 0018:ffffad40472f39c8 EFLAGS: 00010246 [66303.926749] RAX: ffff98a8ada05828 RBX: ffff98a8c46dd060 RCX: ffffad40472f3b48 [66303.926781] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff98a8c46dd068 RDI: ffff98a8b23c4000 [66303.926811] RBP: ffffad40472f3b48 R08: 00000000000337b0 R09: 0000000000000000 [66303.926843] R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000100 R12: ffff98a8b23c4000 [66303.926874] R13: ffff98a8c46dd060 R14: 000000000000000f R15: ffffad40472f3a50 [66303.926906] FS: 00007f6397966740(0000) GS:ffff98b390900000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [66303.926941] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [66303.926967] CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 000000011ac20002 CR4: 00000000007706e0 [66303.926999] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [66303.927029] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [66303.927060] PKRU: 55555554 [66303.927075] Call Trace: [66303.927094] <TASK> [66303.927111] ? __die+0x23/0x70 [66303.927140] ? page_fault_oops+0x171/0x4e0 [66303.927176] ? exc_page_fault+0x7f/0x180 [66303.927209] ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x30 [66303.927244] ? ice_get_ringparam+0x22/0x50 [ice] [66303.927433] rings_prepare_data+0x62/0x80 [66303.927469] ethnl_default_doit+0xe2/0x350 [66303.927501] genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.0+0xe3/0x140 [66303.927538] genl_rcv_msg+0x1b1/0x2c0 [66303.927561] ? __pfx_ethnl_default_doit+0x10/0x10 [66303.927590] ? __pfx_genl_rcv_msg+0x10/0x10 [66303.927615] netlink_rcv_skb+0x58/0x110 [66303.927644] genl_rcv+0x28/0x40 [66303.927665] netlink_unicast+0x19e/0x290 [66303.927691] netlink_sendmsg+0x254/0x4d0 [66303.927717] sock_sendmsg+0x93/0xa0 [66303.927743] __sys_sendto+0x126/0x170 [66303.927780] __x64_sys_sendto+0x24/0x30 [66303.928593] do_syscall_64+0x5d/0x90 [66303.929370] ? __count_memcg_events+0x60/0xa0 [66303.930146] ? count_memcg_events.constprop.0+0x1a/0x30 [66303.930920] ? handle_mm_fault+0x9e/0x350 [66303.931688] ? do_user_addr_fault+0x258/0x740 [66303.932452] ? exc_page_fault+0x7f/0x180 [66303.933193] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2023-54037 since 12/24/2025. The exploitability is told to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279976 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-54037), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.4.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch ca03b327224ed6be2d07f42ee6ee1cdd586cfd5b/b3e7b3a6ee92ab927f750a6b19615ce88ece808f 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 (279976) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2920). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.4.0
• 6.4.1
• 6.4.2
• 6.4.3
• 6.4.4
• 6.4.5
• 6.4.6

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

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

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