CVE-2023-53612

System crash via asynchronous coretemp device binding

Published Oct 4, 2025 · Updated Oct 4, 2025

NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel coretemp driver allows local users to crash the system during CPU hotplug operations. The driver assumes platform_device_add synchronously binds a driver and initializes drvdata, leaving a NULL pointer when platform-bus autoprobing is disabled. Reachability requires disabled autoprobing and a CPU-hotplug transition; related notifier locking can also deadlock the host.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.14%
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 the Linux kernel coretemp driver allows local users to crash the system during CPU hotplug operations. The driver assumes platform_device_add synchronously binds a driver and initializes drvdata, leaving a NULL pointer when platform-bus autoprobing is disabled. Reachability requires disabled autoprobing and a CPU-hotplug transition; related notifier locking can also deadlock the host.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-53612
Published
Oct 4, 2025
Updated
Oct 4, 2025
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-476, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 4, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 4, 2025Record 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=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <4000384684f612b3645a944f6acde0e65ac370b8
  2. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <52ea47a0ddfbc5fe05e873d3f5a59db4ba3e03fe
  3. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <5735878a7b7db7e9ce731cb36cec298a9de67549
  4. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <6d03bbff456befeccdd4d663177c4d6c75d0c4ff
  5. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <8fcdbc4bc01365f4b10fed7db544a3149e3054fd
  6. Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <c57a8d14d7880521150ee801d53a0a64fdffd9c8

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <4000384684f612b3645a944f6acde0e65ac370b8; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <52ea47a0ddfbc5fe05e873d3f5a59db4ba3e03fe; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <5735878a7b7db7e9ce731cb36cec298a9de67549; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <6d03bbff456befeccdd4d663177c4d6c75d0c4ff; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <8fcdbc4bc01365f4b10fed7db544a3149e3054fd; version=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <c57a8d14d7880521150ee801d53a0a64fdffd9c8

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST National Vulnerability DatabaseCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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.

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No observations available

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

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

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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