# CVE-2023-53166: power: supply: bq25890: Fix external_power_changed race

> A race condition in the bq25890 charger driver causes a NULL pointer dereference during boot, leading to a kernel crash and denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53166, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53166, GHSA-x38q-rf72-5pjg, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53166

## What is CVE-2023-53166?

CVE-2023-53166 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

power: supply: bq25890: Fix external_power_changed race

bq25890_charger_external_power_changed() dereferences bq->charger,
which gets sets in bq25890_power_supply_init() like this:

  bq->charger = devm_power_supply_register(bq->dev, &bq->desc, &psy_cfg);

As soon as devm_power_supply_register() has called device_add()
the external_power_changed callback can get called. So there is a window
where bq25890_charger_external_power_changed() may get called while
bq->charger has not been set yet leading to a NULL pointer dereference.

This race hits during boot sometimes on a Lenovo Yoga Book 1 yb1-x90f
when the cht_wcove_pwrsrc (extcon) power_supply is done with detecting
the connected charger-type which happens to exactly hit the small window:

  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000018
  <snip>
  RIP: 0010:__power_supply_is_supplied_by+0xb/0xb0
  <snip>
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   __power_supply_get_supplier_property+0x19/0x50
   class_for_each_device+0xb1/0xe0
   power_supply_get_property_from_supplier+0x2e/0x50
   bq25890_charger_external_power_changed+0x38/0x1b0 [bq25890_charger]
   __power_supply_changed_work+0x30/0x40
   class_for_each_device+0xb1/0xe0
   power_supply_changed_work+0x5f/0xe0
  <snip>

Fixing this is easy. The external_power_changed callback gets passed
the power_supply which will eventually get stored in bq->charger,
so bq25890_charger_external_power_changed() can simply directly use
the passed in psy argument which is always valid.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53166?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53166?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53166 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53166 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-2023-53166 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53166 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53166 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-2023-53166/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53166/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53166
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53166
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53166

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53166/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.