# CVE-2023-54287: tty: serial: imx: disable Ageing Timer interrupt request irq

> A null pointer dereference in the i.MX serial driver causes a kernel panic when restarting a guest under Jailhouse, requiring local physical interaction.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 30 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54287, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54287, GHSA-88jr-vfwv-8mp6, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-54287, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54287

## What is CVE-2023-54287?

CVE-2023-54287 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 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:

tty: serial: imx: disable Ageing Timer interrupt request irq

There maybe pending USR interrupt before requesting irq, however
uart_add_one_port has not executed, so there will be kernel panic:
[    0.795668] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual addre
ss 0000000000000080
[    0.802701] Mem abort info:
[    0.805367]   ESR = 0x0000000096000004
[    0.808950]   EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
[    0.814033]   SET = 0, FnV = 0
[    0.816950]   EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
[    0.819950]   FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault
[    0.824617] Data abort info:
[    0.827367]   ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004
[    0.831033]   CM = 0, WnR = 0
[    0.833866] [0000000000000080] user address but active_mm is swapper
[    0.839951] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
[    0.845953] Modules linked in:
[    0.848869] CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.1.1+g56321e101aca #1
[    0.855617] Hardware name: Freescale i.MX8MP EVK (DT)
[    0.860452] pstate: 000000c5 (nzcv daIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[    0.867117] pc : __imx_uart_rxint.constprop.0+0x11c/0x2c0
[    0.872283] lr : imx_uart_int+0xf8/0x1ec

The issue only happends in the inmate linux when Jailhouse hypervisor
enabled. The test procedure is:
while true; do
	jailhouse enable imx8mp.cell
	jailhouse cell linux xxxx
	sleep 10
	jailhouse cell destroy 1
	jailhouse disable
	sleep 5
done

And during the upper test, press keys to the 2nd linux console.
When `jailhouse cell destroy 1`, the 2nd linux has no chance to put
the uart to a quiese state, so USR1/2 may has pending interrupts. Then
when `jailhosue cell linux xx` to start 2nd linux again, the issue
trigger.

In order to disable irqs before requesting them, both UCR1 and UCR2 irqs
should be disabled, so here fix that, disable the Ageing Timer interrupt
in UCR2 as UCR1 does.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54287?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54287?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54287 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54287 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54287 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54287 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 30 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-2023-54287 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-2023-54287/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54287/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54287
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54287
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54287

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54287/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.