CVE-2023-54098
NoneCVSS
—
EPSS
0.2%
Published
Dec 24, 2025
CISA due date
—
Cloudanix analysis
A bug in graphics driver cleanup can crash the computer when removing certain virtual devices.
- Exploitation
- Local Privilege
- Attacker needs
- Local User
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Impact
- Denial Of Service
- Component
- OS kernel
- Class
- Memory Corruption
- Remediation
- Upgrade
- Effort
- Medium
- Patch risk
- Low
What it actually does
NULL pointer dereference in intel_gvt_debugfs_clean when drm minor debugfs root has already been removed during device unbind, causing kernel oops on down_write of dangling pointer.
Why it matters to the business
System crashes and instability during GPU device removal or unbind operations in virtualized graphics setups, leading to potential downtime and service disruption.
How an attack unfolds
An attacker with local access triggers device unbind or removal while the GVT debugfs cleanup path executes, dereferencing an invalid pointer and crashing the kernel.
How to fix it
Update the Linux kernel to a version containing commit bb7c7b2c89d2feb347b6f9bffc1c75987adb1048 or 4de2d04cb1b7e1cf40b7f5cf1fa66eae92b96cc3.
How to confirm the fix worked
Verify kernel source contains the referenced fix commits and confirm successful device unbind without oops or NULL dereference.
Typical attack path
- Obtain local access to trigger device unbind
- Invoke unbind_store on the i915 PCI device
- Reach intel_gvt_driver_remove and intel_gvt_clean_device
- Call intel_gvt_debugfs_clean on removed debugfs root
- Trigger NULL pointer dereference in down_write
How to detect it
Search kernel logs for oops traces containing down_write NULL dereference, intel_gvt_debugfs_clean, and kvmgt module involvement during unbind operations.
- BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000a0
- intel_gvt_debugfs_clean+0x15/0x30 [kvmgt]
- Modules linked in: kvmgt
- gfx-unbind.sh
What your security team should do
- Apply the referenced kernel commits immediately on affected systems
- Prioritize updates for systems using GVT virtualization
- Test unbind/remove operations in staging environments after patching
The record
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/i915/gvt: fix gvt debugfs destroy When gvt debug fs is destroyed, need to have a sane check if drm minor's debugfs root is still available or not, otherwise in case like device remove through unbinding, drm minor's debugfs directory has already been removed, then intel_gvt_debugfs_clean() would act upon dangling pointer like below oops. i915 0000:00:02.0: Direct firmware load for i915/gvt/vid_0x8086_did_0x1926_rid_0x0a.golden_hw_state failed with error -2 i915 0000:00:02.0: MDEV: Registered Console: switching to colour dummy device 80x25 i915 0000:00:02.0: MDEV: Unregistering BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000a0 PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI CPU: 2 PID: 2486 Comm: gfx-unbind.sh Tainted: G I 6.1.0-rc8+ #15 Hardware name: Dell Inc. XPS 13 9350/0JXC1H, BIOS 1.13.0 02/10/2020 RIP: 0010:down_write+0x1f/0x90 Code: 1d ff ff 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 53 48 89 fb e8 62 c0 ff ff bf 01 00 00 00 e8 28 5e 31 ff 31 c0 ba 01 00 00 00 <f0> 48 0f b1 13 75 33 65 48 8b 04 25 c0 bd 01 00 48 89 43 08 bf 01 RSP: 0018:ffff9eb3036ffcc8 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 00000000000000a0 RCX: ffffff8100000000 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000064 RDI: ffffffffa48787a8 RBP: ffff9eb3036ffd30 R08: ffffeb1fc45a0608 R09: ffffeb1fc45a05c0 R10: 0000000000000002 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: ffff91acc33fa328 R14: ffff91acc033f080 R15: ffff91acced533e0 FS: 00007f6947bba740(0000) GS:ffff91ae36d00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00000000000000a0 CR3: 00000001133a2002 CR4: 00000000003706e0 Call Trace: <TASK> simple_recursive_removal+0x9f/0x2a0 ? start_creating.part.0+0x120/0x120 ? _raw_spin_lock+0x13/0x40 debugfs_remove+0x40/0x60 intel_gvt_debugfs_clean+0x15/0x30 [kvmgt] intel_gvt_clean_device+0x49/0xe0 [kvmgt] intel_gvt_driver_remove+0x2f/0xb0 i915_driver_remove+0xa4/0xf0 i915_pci_remove+0x1a/0x30 pci_device_remove+0x33/0xa0 device_release_driver_internal+0x1b2/0x230 unbind_store+0xe0/0x110 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x11b/0x1f0 vfs_write+0x203/0x3d0 ksys_write+0x63/0xe0 do_syscall_64+0x37/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd RIP: 0033:0x7f6947cb5190 Code: 40 00 48 8b 15 71 9c 0d 00 f7 d8 64 89 02 48 c7 c0 ff ff ff ff eb b7 0f 1f 00 80 3d 51 24 0e 00 00 74 17 b8 01 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 58 c3 0f 1f 80 00 00 00 00 48 83 ec 28 48 89 RSP: 002b:00007ffcbac45a28 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 000000000000000d RCX: 00007f6947cb5190 RDX: 000000000000000d RSI: 0000555e35c866a0 RDI: 0000000000000001 RBP: 0000555e35c866a0 R08: 0000000000000002 R09: 0000555e358cb97c R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 0000000000000001 R13: 000000000000000d R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000555e358cb8e0 </TASK> Modules linked in: kvmgt CR2: 00000000000000a0 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Introduced | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Kernel | 4.16.0 | 5.10.163 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP4 | kernel-default | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | kernel-64kb | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | kernel-default | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | kernel-default-base | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | kernel-docs | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | kernel-obs-build | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | kernel-source | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | kernel-syms | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-64kb | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-default | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-default-base | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-docs | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-obs-build | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-source | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-syms | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP4 | kernel-default | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP4 | kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP4_Update_48 | 0 | 1-150400.9.7.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | kernel-default | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | kernel-default-base | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | kernel-rt | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.15.142.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | kernel-source-rt | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.15.142.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | kernel-default | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | kernel-default-base | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | kernel-rt | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.15.142.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | kernel-source-rt | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.15.142.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 | kernel-rt | 0 | 5.14.21-150500.13.118.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 | kernel-source-rt | 0 | 5.14.21-150500.13.118.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-64kb | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-default | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-default-base | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-docs | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-obs-build | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-source | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-syms | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | kernel-zfcpdump | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | kernel-default | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | kernel-default-base | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | kernel-docs | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | kernel-obs-build | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | kernel-source | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
| SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | kernel-syms | 0 | 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1 |
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