Kernel crash via mismatched device-tree compatibility lookup
Published Dec 9, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
NULL pointer dereference in the Linux ina2xx ADC driver allows local users to crash affected kernels via a crafted device-tree node. The probe function trusts the first OF compatible string to populate an I2C device ID even when matching succeeds on a later string, then dereferences the resulting NULL id pointer. The crash requires a platform node whose first compatible value lacks both driver and legacy I2C entries while a later value, such as ti,ina231, matches the driver.
Summary
What happened
NULL pointer dereference in the Linux ina2xx ADC driver allows local users to crash affected kernels via a crafted device-tree node. The probe function trusts the first OF compatible string to populate an I2C device ID even when matching succeeds on a later string, then dereferences the resulting NULL id pointer. The crash requires a platform node whose first compatible value lacks both driver and legacy I2C entries while a later value, such as ti,ina231, matches the driver.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-53834
- Published
- Dec 9, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 9, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.5
- Affected versionversion=c43a102e67db99c8bfe6e8a9280cec13ff53b789 <13f3ce53b65aa8b44cad7039d31e62c9ffd6c5d1
- Affected versionversion=c43a102e67db99c8bfe6e8a9280cec13ff53b789 <77b689cc27d489b75d33f1a368356d70eb0ce08c
- Affected versionversion=c43a102e67db99c8bfe6e8a9280cec13ff53b789 <a41e19cc0d6b6a445a4133170b90271e4a2553dc
- Affected versionversion=c43a102e67db99c8bfe6e8a9280cec13ff53b789 <a8e2ae6296d56478fb98ae7f739846ed121f154f
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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