# CVE-2023-54098: drm/i915/gvt: fix gvt debugfs destroy

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's i915 GVT debugfs cleanup can cause a system crash during device unbinding.

- **Severity:** High 7.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54098, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54098, GHSA-4cf5-x5mg-rrpq, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54098

## What is CVE-2023-54098?

CVE-2023-54098 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 2025. 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

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 ]---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54098?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54098?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54098 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54098 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54098 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54098 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 2025. 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-2023-54098 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2023-54098/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54098/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54098
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54098
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54098

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54098/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.