NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2023-52473

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: thermal: core: Fix NULL pointer dereference in zone registration error path If device_register() in thermal_zone_device_register_with_trips() returns an error, the tz variable is set to NULL and subsequently dereferenced in kfree(tz->tzp). Commit adc8749b150c ("thermal/drivers/core: Use put_device() if device_register() fails") added the tz = NULL assignment in question to avoid a possible double-free after dropping the reference to the zone device. However, after commit 4649620d9404 ("thermal: core: Make thermal_zone_device_unregister() return after freeing the zone"), that assignment has become redundant, because dropping the reference to the zone device does not cause the zone object to be freed any more. Drop it to address the NULL pointer dereference.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (17.6th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 18th percentile — 17.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2023-52473: held from 0.003 to 0.003.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-52473?
CVE-2023-52473 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2024-02-26.
How severe is CVE-2023-52473?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.