CVE-2023-54321 driver core: fix potential null-ptr-deref in device_add()

What is CVE-2023-54321?

CVE-2023-54321 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, 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:

driver core: fix potential null-ptr-deref in device_add()

I got the following null-ptr-deref report while doing fault injection test:

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000058 CPU: 2 PID: 278 Comm: 37-i2c-ds2482 Tainted: G B W N 6.1.0-rc3+ RIP: 0010:klist_put+0x2d/0xd0 Call Trace: <TASK> klist_remove+0xf1/0x1c0 device_release_driver_internal+0x196/0x210 bus_remove_device+0x1bd/0x240 device_add+0xd3d/0x1100 w1_add_master_device+0x476/0x490 [wire] ds2482_probe+0x303/0x3e0 [ds2482]

This is how it happened:

w1_alloc_dev() // The dev->driver is set to w1_master_driver. memcpy(&dev->dev, device, sizeof(struct device)); device_add() bus_add_device() dpm_sysfs_add() // It fails, calls bus_remove_device.

// error path bus_remove_device() // The dev->driver is not null, but driver is not bound. __device_release_driver() klist_remove(&dev->p->knode_driver) <-- It causes null-ptr-deref.

// normal path bus_probe_device() // It's not called yet. device_bind_driver()

If dev->driver is set, in the error path after calling bus_add_device() in device_add(), bus_remove_device() is called, then the device will be detached from driver. But device_bind_driver() is not called yet, so it causes null-ptr-deref while access the 'knode_driver'. To fix this, set dev->driver to null in the error path before calling bus_remove_device().

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54321?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-54321?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2023-54321 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54321 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-54321, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54321, GHSA-vfgj-f4g9-xh2h, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54321.