Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hwmon: (coretemp) Simplify...
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
hwmon: (coretemp) Simplify platform device handling
Coretemp's platform driver is unconventional. All the real work is done
globally by the initcall and CPU hotplug notifiers, while the "driver"
effectively just wraps an allocation and the registration of the hwmon
interface in a long-winded round-trip through the driver core. The whole
logic of dynamically creating and destroying platform devices to bring
the interfaces up and down is error prone, since it assumes
platform_device_add() will synchronously bind the driver and set drvdata
before it returns, thus results in a NULL dereference if drivers_autoprobe
is turned off for the platform bus. Furthermore, the unusual approach of
doing that from within a CPU hotplug notifier, already commented in the
code that it deadlocks suspend, also causes lockdep issues for other
drivers or subsystems which may want to legitimately register a CPU
hotplug notifier from a platform bus notifier.
All of these issues can be solved by ripping this unusual behaviour out
completely, simply tying the platform devices to the lifetime of the
module itself, and directly managing the hwmon interfaces from the
hotplug notifiers. There is a slight user-visible change in that
/sys/bus/platform/drivers/coretemp will no longer appear, and
/sys/devices/platform/coretemp.n will remain present if package n is
hotplugged off, but hwmon users should really only be looking for the
presence of the hwmon interfaces, whose behaviour remains unchanged.
Impact
The application dereferences a null pointer, causing a crash. Typical impact: denial of service via crash.
CVE-2023-53612 has a CVSS score of 5.5 (Medium). The vector is requires local access, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. No fixed version is listed yet, so configuration controls and monitoring matter more in the interim.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-53612? CVE-2023-53612 is a medium-severity null pointer dereference vulnerability. No fixed version is listed yet. The application dereferences a null pointer, causing a crash.
- How severe is CVE-2023-53612? CVE-2023-53612 has a CVSS score of 5.5 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-53612? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2023-53612 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
- Is CVE-2023-53612 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-53612 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2023-53612 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.