System crash via malformed HID report handling
Published Mar 27, 2023 · Updated Apr 23, 2025
Type confusion in the Linux kernel HID subsystem allows local users with physical USB access to crash the system using a crafted device. hid_validate_values() and bigben_probe() call list_entry() on empty report lists, producing fake hid_report pointers; the Betop path also accepts one field with four values although playback dereferences a third field. A malicious HID descriptor is required; researchers later reported that the current structure layout makes the type-confusion paths nonexploitable, while the separate Betop mismatch reaches a null-pointer dereference.
Summary
What happened
Type confusion in the Linux kernel HID subsystem allows local users with physical USB access to crash the system using a crafted device. hid_validate_values() and bigben_probe() call list_entry() on empty report lists, producing fake hid_report pointers; the Betop path also accepts one field with four values although playback dereferences a third field. A malicious HID descriptor is required; researchers later reported that the current structure layout makes the type-confusion paths nonexploitable, while the separate Betop mismatch reaches a null-pointer dereference.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-1073
- Published
- Mar 27, 2023
- Updated
- Apr 23, 2025
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- CWE-119, CWE-787, T1200
- Attack vector
- physical
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 27, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 23, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=unknown
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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