NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2023-52994

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: acpi: Fix suspend with Xen PV Commit f1e525009493 ("x86/boot: Skip realmode init code when running as Xen PV guest") missed one code path accessing real_mode_header, leading to dereferencing NULL when suspending the system under Xen: [ 348.284004] PM: suspend entry (deep) [ 348.289532] Filesystems sync: 0.005 seconds [ 348.291545] Freezing user space processes ... (elapsed 0.000 seconds) done. [ 348.292457] OOM killer disabled. [ 348.292462] Freezing remaining freezable tasks ... (elapsed 0.104 seconds) done. [ 348.396612] printk: Suspending console(s) (use no_console_suspend to debug) [ 348.749228] PM: suspend devices took 0.352 seconds [ 348.769713] ACPI: EC: interrupt blocked [ 348.816077] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 000000000000001c [ 348.816080] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 348.816081] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 348.816083] PGD 0 P4D 0 [ 348.816086] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI [ 348.816089] CPU: 0 PID: 6764 Comm: systemd-sleep Not tainted 6.1.3-1.fc32.qubes.x86_64 #1 [ 348.816092] Hardware name: Star Labs StarBook/StarBook, BIOS 8.01 07/03/2022 [ 348.816093] RIP: e030:acpi_get_wakeup_address+0xc/0x20 Fix that by adding an optional acpi callback allowing to skip setting the wakeup address, as in the Xen PV case this will be handled by the hypervisor anyway.

EPSS: 0.002 (11.3th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

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.

Affected products

  • Linux — versions b1898793777fe10a31c160bb8bc385d6eea640c6, 3414632beaadf635a4affd4ae278297978640965, 6.0.16
  • Linux Linux_kernel

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-52994?
CVE-2023-52994 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2025-03-27.
How severe is CVE-2023-52994?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.