CVE-2023-52973

vc_screen: move load of struct vc_data pointer in vcs_read() to avoid UAF

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: March 27, 2025 at 04:43 PM UTC
Updated: August 5, 2026 at 10:24 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vc_screen: move load of struct vc_data pointer in vcs_read() to avoid UAF After a call to console_unlock() in vcs_read() the vc_data struct can be freed by vc_deallocate(). Because of that, the struct vc_data pointer load must be done at the top of while loop in vcs_read() to avoid a UAF when vcs_size() is called. Syzkaller reported a UAF in vcs_size(). BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in vcs_size (drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c:215) Read of size 4 at addr ffff8881137479a8 by task 4a005ed81e27e65/1537 CPU: 0 PID: 1537 Comm: 4a005ed81e27e65 Not tainted 6.2.0-rc5 #1 Hardware name: Red Hat KVM, BIOS 1.15.0-2.module Call Trace: <TASK> __asan_report_load4_noabort (mm/kasan/report_generic.c:350) vcs_size (drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c:215) vcs_read (drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c:415) vfs_read (fs/read_write.c:468 fs/read_write.c:450) ... </TASK> Allocated by task 1191: ... kmalloc_trace (mm/slab_common.c:1069) vc_allocate (./include/linux/slab.h:580 ./include/linux/slab.h:720 drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:1128 drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:1108) con_install (drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:3383) tty_init_dev (drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1301 drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1413 drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1390) tty_open (drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2080 drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2126) chrdev_open (fs/char_dev.c:415) do_dentry_open (fs/open.c:883) vfs_open (fs/open.c:1014) ... Freed by task 1548: ... kfree (mm/slab_common.c:1021) vc_port_destruct (drivers/tty/vt/vt.c:1094) tty_port_destructor (drivers/tty/tty_port.c:296) tty_port_put (drivers/tty/tty_port.c:312) vt_disallocate_all (drivers/tty/vt/vt_ioctl.c:662 (discriminator 2)) vt_ioctl (drivers/tty/vt/vt_ioctl.c:903) tty_ioctl (drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2776) ... The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888113747800 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-1k of size 1024 The buggy address is located 424 bytes inside of 1024-byte region [ffff888113747800, ffff888113747c00) The buggy address belongs to the physical page: page:00000000b3fe6c7c refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x113740 head:00000000b3fe6c7c order:3 compound_mapcount:0 subpages_mapcount:0 compound_pincount:0 anon flags: 0x17ffffc0010200(slab|head|node=0|zone=2|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) raw: 0017ffffc0010200 ffff888100042dc0 0000000000000000 dead000000000001 raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000100010 00000001ffffffff 0000000000000000 page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected Memory state around the buggy address: ffff888113747880: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff888113747900: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb > ffff888113747980: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ^ ffff888113747a00: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ffff888113747a80: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb ================================================================== Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

2.6.38 ≤ v < 4.14.3292.6.38 ≤ v < 4.19.2732.6.38 ≤ v < 5.10.1682.6.38 ≤ v < 5.15.932.6.38 ≤ v < 5.4.2322.6.38 ≤ v < 6.1.112.6.38 ≤ v < 6.24.15 ≤ v < 4.19.2734.20 ≤ v < 5.4.2325.11 ≤ v < 5.15.935.16 ≤ v < 6.1.115.5 ≤ v < 5.10.1686.2 rc16.2 rc26.2 rc36.2 rc46.2 rc56.2 rc6ac751efa6a0d70f2c9daef5c7e3a92270f5c2dff
Vendor states this is fixed in 226fae124b2dac217ea5436060d623ff3385bc34 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 55515d7d8743b71b80bfe68e89eb9d92630626ab (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6332f52f44b9776568bf3c0b714ddfb0bb175e78 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 8506f16aae9daf354e3732bcfd447e2a97f023df (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in af79ea9a2443016f64d8fd8d72020cc874f0e066 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in d0332cbf53dad06a22189cc341391237f4ea6d9f (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in fc9e27f3ba083534b8bbf72ab0f5c810ffdc7d18 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 2.6.38 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.14.329 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.19.273 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.168 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.93 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.4.232 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.11 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.2 (unaffected)

References (7)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/226fae124b2dac217ea5436060d623ff3385bc34
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/55515d7d8743b71b80bfe68e89eb9d92630626ab
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6332f52f44b9776568bf3c0b714ddfb0bb175e78
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8506f16aae9daf354e3732bcfd447e2a97f023df
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/af79ea9a2443016f64d8fd8d72020cc874f0e066
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0332cbf53dad06a22189cc341391237f4ea6d9f
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fc9e27f3ba083534b8bbf72ab0f5c810ffdc7d18

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-416

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