CVE-2023-54291
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
NULL Pointer Dereference in Linux Kernel vduse Causes Kernel Crash

Publication date: 2025-12-30

Last updated on: 2025-12-30

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vduse: fix NULL pointer dereference vduse_vdpa_set_vq_affinity callback can be called with NULL value as cpu_mask when deleting the vduse device. This patch resets virtqueue's IRQ affinity mask value to set all CPUs instead of dereferencing NULL cpu_mask. [ 4760.952149] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 [ 4760.959110] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 4760.964247] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 4760.969385] PGD 0 P4D 0 [ 4760.971927] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI [ 4760.976112] CPU: 13 PID: 2346 Comm: vdpa Not tainted 6.4.0-rc6+ #4 [ 4760.982291] Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R640/0W23H8, BIOS 2.8.1 06/26/2020 [ 4760.989769] RIP: 0010:memcpy_orig+0xc5/0x130 [ 4760.994049] Code: 16 f8 4c 89 07 4c 89 4f 08 4c 89 54 17 f0 4c 89 5c 17 f8 c3 cc cc cc cc 66 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 66 90 83 fa 08 72 1b <4c> 8b 06 4c 8b 4c 16 f8 4c 89 07 4c 89 4c 17 f8 c3 cc cc cc cc 66 [ 4761.012793] RSP: 0018:ffffb1d565abb830 EFLAGS: 00010246 [ 4761.018020] RAX: ffff9f4bf6b27898 RBX: ffff9f4be23969c0 RCX: ffff9f4bcadf6400 [ 4761.025152] RDX: 0000000000000008 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff9f4bf6b27898 [ 4761.032286] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000008 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 4761.039416] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000600 R12: 0000000000000000 [ 4761.046549] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000080 R15: ffffb1d565abbb10 [ 4761.053680] FS: 00007f64c2ec2740(0000) GS:ffff9f635f980000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 4761.061765] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 4761.067513] CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 0000001875270006 CR4: 00000000007706e0 [ 4761.074645] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 4761.081775] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [ 4761.088909] PKRU: 55555554 [ 4761.091620] Call Trace: [ 4761.094074] <TASK> [ 4761.096180] ? __die+0x1f/0x70 [ 4761.099238] ? page_fault_oops+0x171/0x4f0 [ 4761.103340] ? exc_page_fault+0x7b/0x180 [ 4761.107265] ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30 [ 4761.111460] ? memcpy_orig+0xc5/0x130 [ 4761.115126] vduse_vdpa_set_vq_affinity+0x3e/0x50 [vduse] [ 4761.120533] virtnet_clean_affinity.part.0+0x3d/0x90 [virtio_net] [ 4761.126635] remove_vq_common+0x1a4/0x250 [virtio_net] [ 4761.131781] virtnet_remove+0x5d/0x70 [virtio_net] [ 4761.136580] virtio_dev_remove+0x3a/0x90 [ 4761.140509] device_release_driver_internal+0x19b/0x200 [ 4761.145742] bus_remove_device+0xc2/0x130 [ 4761.149755] device_del+0x158/0x3e0 [ 4761.153245] ? kernfs_find_ns+0x35/0xc0 [ 4761.157086] device_unregister+0x13/0x60 [ 4761.161010] unregister_virtio_device+0x11/0x20 [ 4761.165543] device_release_driver_internal+0x19b/0x200 [ 4761.170770] bus_remove_device+0xc2/0x130 [ 4761.174782] device_del+0x158/0x3e0 [ 4761.178276] ? __pfx_vdpa_name_match+0x10/0x10 [vdpa] [ 4761.183336] device_unregister+0x13/0x60 [ 4761.187260] vdpa_nl_cmd_dev_del_set_doit+0x63/0xe0 [vdpa]
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Meta Information
Published
2025-12-30
Last Modified
2025-12-30
Generated
2026-05-07
AI Q&A
2025-12-30
EPSS Evaluated
2026-05-05
NVD
CVE-2023-54291
EUVD
EUVD-2023-60513
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux kernel *
linux linux_kernel *
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 is a NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's vduse component. Specifically, the vduse_vdpa_set_vq_affinity callback can be called with a NULL cpu_mask value when deleting the vduse device. This causes the kernel to attempt to dereference a NULL pointer, leading to a crash or kernel panic. The patch fixes this by resetting the virtqueue's IRQ affinity mask to include all CPUs instead of dereferencing the NULL cpu_mask.


How can this vulnerability impact me? :

This vulnerability can cause the Linux kernel to crash or panic due to a NULL pointer dereference when deleting a vduse device. This can lead to system instability, denial of service, or unexpected reboots, impacting the availability of the system.


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

You can detect this vulnerability by monitoring your system logs for kernel NULL pointer dereference errors related to vduse or vdpa devices. Look for kernel oops messages similar to: '[ 4760.952149] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000' and call traces involving 'vduse_vdpa_set_vq_affinity'. Using commands like 'dmesg | grep -i vduse' or 'journalctl -k | grep -i vdpa' can help identify such errors.


What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?

The immediate mitigation is to update your Linux kernel to a version that includes the patch fixing the NULL pointer dereference in vduse_vdpa_set_vq_affinity. This patch resets the virtqueue's IRQ affinity mask to all CPUs instead of dereferencing a NULL cpu_mask, preventing the crash. Until then, avoid deleting vduse devices that may trigger this callback.


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