# CVE-2023-54217: Revert "drm/msm: Add missing check and destroy for alloc_ordered_workqueue"

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel MSM DRM driver can cause a system crash, requiring a local attacker to trigger specific initialization errors.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 30 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54217, GHSA-gj73-539r-gfvc, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54217

## What is CVE-2023-54217?

CVE-2023-54217 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 Dec 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:

Revert "drm/msm: Add missing check and destroy for alloc_ordered_workqueue"

This reverts commit 643b7d0869cc7f1f7a5ac7ca6bd25d88f54e31d0.

A recent patch that tried to fix up the msm_drm_init() paths with
respect to the workqueue but only ended up making things worse:

First, the newly added calls to msm_drm_uninit() on early errors would
trigger NULL-pointer dereferences, for example, as the kms pointer would
not have been initialised. (Note that these paths were also modified by
a second broken error handling patch which in effect cancelled out this
part when merged.)

Second, the newly added allocation sanity check would still leak the
previously allocated drm device.

Instead of trying to salvage what was badly broken (and clearly not
tested), let's revert the bad commit so that clean and backportable
fixes can be added in its place.

Patchwork: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/525107/

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54217?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54217?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54217 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54217 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54217 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54217 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 Dec 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-2023-54217 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-2023-54217/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54217/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54217
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54217
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54217

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54217/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.