# CVE-2015-5257: Null dereference in n/a

> A physically proximate attacker can cause a denial of service via a crafted USB device exploiting a NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel whiteheat driver.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Nov 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** CVE-2015-5275, DEBIAN-CVE-2015-5257, GHSA-v3mg-r9jg-vfg4, MGASA-2015-0435, MGASA-2015-0439, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-5257

## What is CVE-2015-5257?

CVE-2015-5257 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Nov 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

drivers/usb/serial/whiteheat.c in the Linux kernel before 4.2.4 allows physically proximate attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and OOPS) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted USB device.  NOTE: this ID was incorrectly used for an Apache Cordova issue that has the correct ID of CVE-2015-8320.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-5257?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-5257?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-5257 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-5257 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-5257 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-5257 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Nov 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-5257 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5257/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5257/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-5257
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-5257
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-5257

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5257/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.