CVE-2023-52696Network attack vector

PowerNV startup crash via unchecked allocation failure

Published May 17, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026

NULL pointer dereference in PowerNV power-cap initialization in Linux kernel branches starting at 4.20 causes a startup crash. opal_powercap_init() assigns an unchecked NULL result from kasprintf() to the power-cap group's name and continues constructing its attributes. The failure is limited to PowerNV initialization and requires a memory-allocation failure, interrupting availability without reported data access or modification.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability0.82%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

NULL pointer dereference in PowerNV power-cap initialization in Linux kernel branches starting at 4.20 causes a startup crash. opal_powercap_init() assigns an unchecked NULL result from kasprintf() to the power-cap group's name and continues constructing its attributes. The failure is limited to PowerNV initialization and requires a memory-allocation failure, interrupting availability without reported data access or modification.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-52696
Published
May 17, 2024
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-476
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 17, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=4.20
  2. Affected versionversion=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <69f95c5e9220f77ce7c540686b056c2b49e9a664
  3. Affected versionversion=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <6b58d16037217d0c64a2a09b655f370403ec7219
  4. Affected versionversion=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <9da4a56dd3772570512ca58aa8832b052ae910dc
  5. Affected versionversion=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <a67a04ad05acb56640798625e73fa54d6d41cce1
  6. Affected versionversion=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <b02ecc35d01a76b4235e008d2dd292895b28ecab
  7. Affected versionversion=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <e123015c0ba859cf48aa7f89c5016cc6e98e018d
  8. Affected versionversion=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <f152a6bfd187f67afeffc9fd68cbe46f51439be0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=4.20; version=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <69f95c5e9220f77ce7c540686b056c2b49e9a664; version=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <6b58d16037217d0c64a2a09b655f370403ec7219; version=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <9da4a56dd3772570512ca58aa8832b052ae910dc; version=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <a67a04ad05acb56640798625e73fa54d6d41cce1; version=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <b02ecc35d01a76b4235e008d2dd292895b28ecab; version=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <e123015c0ba859cf48aa7f89c5016cc6e98e018d; version=b9ef7b4b867f56114bedbe6bf104cfaba0ca818e <f152a6bfd187f67afeffc9fd68cbe46f51439be0
The Linux Kernel Organization · Linux Kernelversion=4.2.0; version=b9ef7b4b867f <69f95c5e9220; version=b9ef7b4b867f <6b58d1603721; version=b9ef7b4b867f <9da4a56dd377; version=b9ef7b4b867f <a67a04ad05ac; version=b9ef7b4b867f <b02ecc35d01a; version=b9ef7b4b867f <e123015c0ba8; version=b9ef7b4b867f <f152a6bfd187

Published CVSS scores

7.5CISA-ADPCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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