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🛡️ CVE-2023-52473 — kernel

🟡 CVSS 5.5 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
5.5
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

thermal: core: Fix NULL pointer dereference in zone registration error path

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.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: None.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Affected software

CVE-2023-52473 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.7.0 up to 6.7.2)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.7.0 up to 6.7.2)

Timeline and source

Published on 25 February 2024 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

Other advisories for this package

kernel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

CVE-2023-52473 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity Medium
CVSS Score 5.5
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2024-02-25
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.7.0 6.7.2
linux-kernel 6.7.0 6.7.2

Similar Threats

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