Kernel crash via incorrect thermal-zone error check
Published Mar 18, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
NULL pointer dereference in Linux 6.6 allows local users to crash the system through the Loongson2 thermal driver. The loongson2_thermal_probe path compares PTR_ERR(tz) with the wrong error value; when thermal-zones are undefined, it continues with tz->type set to NULL and thermal_add_hwmon_sysfs reaches strscpy on the invalid pointer. Reachability requires a Loongson2 platform with the driver loaded and no thermal-zones definition, and the bounded consequence is a kernel oops and service interruption.
Summary
What happened
NULL pointer dereference in Linux 6.6 allows local users to crash the system through the Loongson2 thermal driver. The loongson2_thermal_probe path compares PTR_ERR(tz) with the wrong error value; when thermal-zones are undefined, it continues with tz->type set to NULL and thermal_add_hwmon_sysfs reaches strscpy on the invalid pointer. Reachability requires a Loongson2 platform with the driver loaded and no thermal-zones definition, and the bounded consequence is a kernel oops and service interruption.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-52613
- Published
- Mar 18, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 18, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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- Affected versionversion=6.6
- Affected versionversion=e7e3a7c35791fe7a70997883fb8ada5866a40f4d <15ef92e9c41124ee9d88b01208364f3fe1f45f84
- Affected versionversion=e7e3a7c35791fe7a70997883fb8ada5866a40f4d <6010a9fc14eb1feab5cafd84422001134fe8ec58
- Affected versionversion=e7e3a7c35791fe7a70997883fb8ada5866a40f4d <70481755ed77400e783200e2d022e5fea16060ce
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Attacks
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