CVE-2023-54037
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
NULL Pointer Dereference in Linux Kernel ice Driver During Reload

Publication date: 2025-12-24

Last updated on: 2025-12-24

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ice: prevent NULL pointer deref during reload Calling ethtool during reload can lead to call trace, because VSI isn't configured for some time, but netdev is alive. To fix it add rtnl lock for VSI deconfig and config. Set ::num_q_vectors to 0 after freeing and add a check for ::tx/rx_rings in ring related ethtool ops. Add proper unroll of filters in ice_start_eth(). Reproduction: $watch -n 0.1 -d 'ethtool -g enp24s0f0np0' $devlink dev reload pci/0000:18:00.0 action driver_reinit Call trace before fix: [66303.926205] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 [66303.926259] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [66303.926286] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [66303.926311] PGD 0 P4D 0 [66303.926332] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI [66303.926358] CPU: 4 PID: 933821 Comm: ethtool Kdump: loaded Tainted: G OE 6.4.0-rc5+ #1 [66303.926400] Hardware name: Intel Corporation S2600WFT/S2600WFT, BIOS SE5C620.86B.00.01.0014.070920180847 07/09/2018 [66303.926446] RIP: 0010:ice_get_ringparam+0x22/0x50 [ice] [66303.926649] Code: 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 f3 0f 1e fa 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 8b 87 c0 09 00 00 c7 46 04 e0 1f 00 00 c7 46 10 e0 1f 00 00 48 8b 50 20 <48> 8b 12 0f b7 52 3a 89 56 14 48 8b 40 28 48 8b 00 0f b7 40 58 48 [66303.926722] RSP: 0018:ffffad40472f39c8 EFLAGS: 00010246 [66303.926749] RAX: ffff98a8ada05828 RBX: ffff98a8c46dd060 RCX: ffffad40472f3b48 [66303.926781] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff98a8c46dd068 RDI: ffff98a8b23c4000 [66303.926811] RBP: ffffad40472f3b48 R08: 00000000000337b0 R09: 0000000000000000 [66303.926843] R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000100 R12: ffff98a8b23c4000 [66303.926874] R13: ffff98a8c46dd060 R14: 000000000000000f R15: ffffad40472f3a50 [66303.926906] FS: 00007f6397966740(0000) GS:ffff98b390900000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [66303.926941] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [66303.926967] CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 000000011ac20002 CR4: 00000000007706e0 [66303.926999] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [66303.927029] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [66303.927060] PKRU: 55555554 [66303.927075] Call Trace: [66303.927094] <TASK> [66303.927111] ? __die+0x23/0x70 [66303.927140] ? page_fault_oops+0x171/0x4e0 [66303.927176] ? exc_page_fault+0x7f/0x180 [66303.927209] ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x30 [66303.927244] ? ice_get_ringparam+0x22/0x50 [ice] [66303.927433] rings_prepare_data+0x62/0x80 [66303.927469] ethnl_default_doit+0xe2/0x350 [66303.927501] genl_family_rcv_msg_doit.isra.0+0xe3/0x140 [66303.927538] genl_rcv_msg+0x1b1/0x2c0 [66303.927561] ? __pfx_ethnl_default_doit+0x10/0x10 [66303.927590] ? __pfx_genl_rcv_msg+0x10/0x10 [66303.927615] netlink_rcv_skb+0x58/0x110 [66303.927644] genl_rcv+0x28/0x40 [66303.927665] netlink_unicast+0x19e/0x290 [66303.927691] netlink_sendmsg+0x254/0x4d0 [66303.927717] sock_sendmsg+0x93/0xa0 [66303.927743] __sys_sendto+0x126/0x170 [66303.927780] __x64_sys_sendto+0x24/0x30 [66303.928593] do_syscall_64+0x5d/0x90 [66303.929370] ? __count_memcg_events+0x60/0xa0 [66303.930146] ? count_memcg_events.constprop.0+0x1a/0x30 [66303.930920] ? handle_mm_fault+0x9e/0x350 [66303.931688] ? do_user_addr_fault+0x258/0x740 [66303.932452] ? exc_page_fault+0x7f/0x180 [66303.933193] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc
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Meta Information
Published
2025-12-24
Last Modified
2025-12-24
Generated
2026-05-07
AI Q&A
2025-12-24
EPSS Evaluated
2026-05-05
NVD
CVE-2023-54037
EUVD
EUVD-2025-205130
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
intel ice *
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?

This vulnerability in the Linux kernel's ice driver involves a NULL pointer dereference during a device reload. When the ethtool utility is called during the reload process, it can cause a kernel crash (call trace) because the Virtual Station Interface (VSI) is not configured temporarily, although the network device remains active. The issue arises from missing synchronization (rtnl lock) during VSI deconfiguration and configuration, and missing checks for certain ring parameters in ethtool operations. The fix involves adding proper locking, resetting queue vectors, and adding checks to prevent accessing uninitialized pointers.


How can this vulnerability impact me? :

This vulnerability can cause the Linux kernel to crash due to a NULL pointer dereference when performing certain network device reload operations with ethtool. This can lead to system instability, potential downtime, and disruption of network services on affected systems using the ice driver.


How can this vulnerability be detected on my network or system? Can you suggest some commands?

This vulnerability can be detected by observing kernel call traces or NULL pointer dereference errors related to the ice driver during ethtool operations. Specifically, running commands such as 'watch -n 0.1 -d "ethtool -g <interface>"' and 'devlink dev reload <device> action driver_reinit' can reproduce the issue and help detect it.


What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?

Immediate mitigation involves applying the fix that adds rtnl lock for VSI deconfig and config, sets num_q_vectors to 0 after freeing, and adds checks for tx/rx_rings in ring related ethtool operations. Until the fix is applied, avoid running ethtool commands during device reloads to prevent triggering the NULL pointer dereference.


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