Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-53166)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-53166). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 6.1.31, 6.3.5 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

power: supply: bq25890: Fix external_power_changed race

bq25890_charger_external_power_changed() dereferences bq->charger,
which gets sets in bq25890_power_supply_init() like this:

bq->charger = devm_power_supply_register(bq->dev, &bq->desc, &psy_cfg);

As soon as devm_power_supply_register() has called device_add()
the external_power_changed callback can get called. So there is a window
where bq25890_charger_external_power_changed() may get called while
bq->charger has not been set yet leading to a NULL pointer dereference.

This race hits during boot sometimes on a Lenovo Yoga Book 1 yb1-x90f
when the cht_wcove_pwrsrc (extcon) power_supply is done with detecting
the connected charger-type which happens to exactly hit the small window:

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000018

RIP: 0010:__power_supply_is_supplied_by+0xb/0xb0

Call Trace:

__power_supply_get_supplier_property+0x19/0x50
class_for_each_device+0xb1/0xe0
power_supply_get_property_from_supplier+0x2e/0x50
bq25890_charger_external_power_changed+0x38/0x1b0 [bq25890_charger]
__power_supply_changed_work+0x30/0x40
class_for_each_device+0xb1/0xe0
power_supply_changed_work+0x5f/0xe0

Fixing this is easy. The external_power_changed callback gets passed
the power_supply which will eventually get stored in bq->charger,
so bq25890_charger_external_power_changed() can simply directly use
the pas…

Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD OSV

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-53166 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 6.1.31, 6.3.5 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2023-53166" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2023-53166 (Kernel)
Patched: 6.1.31, 6.3.5 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

A vulnerability (unclassified) exists in Kernel.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Kernel.

🔥 Severity

Severity: ?. Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.

🔧 How to fix

Update to 6.1.31, 6.3.5.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'Kernel' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

1
Identify exposure identify
```
grep -r 'Kernel' . | grep -v node_modules
```
リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で Kernel を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。
2
Apply patch patch
```
Upgrade Kernel to 6.1.31, 6.3.5
```
ステージング環境で 6.1.31, 6.3.5 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
3
Post-deployment verification verify
```
Confirm patched version is live in production
```
パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Affected packages

Linux Kernel

[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.18.0"},{"fixed":"6.1.31"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.2.0"},{"fixed":"6.3.5"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53166 linux Fixed in: 6.1.37-1