Linux Kernel up to 6.1.19/6.2.6 m68k paging_init privilege escalation

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.19/6.2.6. This impacts the function paging_init of the component m68k. This manipulation causes an unknown weakness. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2023-54167. No exploit exists. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.19/6.2.6 and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function paging_init of the component m68k. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: m68k: mm: Move initrd phys_to_virt handling after paging_init() When booting with an initial ramdisk on platforms where physical memory does not start at address zero (e.g. on Amiga): initrd: 0ef0602c - 0f800000 Zone ranges: DMA [mem 0x0000000008000000-0x000000f7ffffffff] Normal empty Movable zone start for each node Early memory node ranges node 0: [mem 0x0000000008000000-0x000000000f7fffff] Initmem setup node 0 [mem 0x0000000008000000-0x000000000f7fffff] Unable to handle kernel access at virtual address (ptrval) Oops: 00000000 Modules linked in: PC: [<00201d3c>] memcmp+0x28/0x56 As phys_to_virt() relies on m68k_memoffset and module_fixup(), it must not be called before paging_init(). Hence postpone the phys_to_virt handling for the initial ramdisk until after calling paging_init(). While at it, reduce #ifdef clutter by using IS_ENABLED() instead.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-54167 since 12/30/2025. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/06/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 281689 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-54167), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.20 or 6.2.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch ceb089e2337f810d3594d310953d9af4783f660a/58662cfb459150b9c0c22d20cddaea439b3844bd/d4b97925e87eb133e400fe4a482d750c74ce392f 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 vulnerability database at Tenable (281689). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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
• 6.2.0
• 6.2.1
• 6.2.2
• 6.2.3
• 6.2.4
• 6.2.5
• 6.2.6

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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