Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2023-52855
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: dwc2: fix possible NULL pointer dereference caused by driver concurrency In _dwc2_hcd_urb_enqueue(), "urb->hcpriv = NULL" is executed without holding the lock "hsotg->lock". In _dwc2_hcd_urb_dequeue(): spin_lock_irqsave(&hsotg->lock, flags); ... if (!urb->hcpriv) { dev_dbg(hsotg->dev, "## urb->hcpriv is NULL ##\n"); goto out; } rc = dwc2_hcd_urb_dequeue(hsotg, urb->hcpriv); // Use urb->hcpriv ... out: spin_unlock_irqrestore(&hsotg->lock, flags); When _dwc2_hcd_urb_enqueue() and _dwc2_hcd_urb_dequeue() are concurrently executed, the NULL check of "urb->hcpriv" can be executed before "urb->hcpriv = NULL". After urb->hcpriv is NULL, it can be used in the function call to dwc2_hcd_urb_dequeue(), which can cause a NULL pointer dereference. This possible bug is found by an experimental static analysis tool developed by myself. This tool analyzes the locking APIs to extract function pairs that can be concurrently executed, and then analyzes the instructions in the paired functions to identify possible concurrency bugs including data races and atomicity violations. The above possible bug is reported, when my tool analyzes the source code of Linux 6.5. To fix this possible bug, "urb->hcpriv = NULL" should be executed with holding the lock "hsotg->lock". After using this patch, my tool never reports the possible bug, with the kernelconfiguration allyesconfig for x86_64. Because I have no associated hardware, I cannot test the patch in runtime testing, and just verify it according to the code logic.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisThe code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.
General guidance for the null pointer dereference class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
>= 4.2, < 4.14.330>= 4.15, < 4.19.299>= 4.20, < 5.4.261>= 5.5, < 5.10.201>= 5.11, < 5.15.139>= 5.16, < 6.1.63>= 6.2, < 6.5.12>= 6.6, < 6.6.2CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped4.14.3304.19.2995.4.261
Upgrade to kernel >= 4.14.330 (4.14.x), >= 4.19.299 (4.19.x), >= 5.4.261 (5.4.x), or >= 5.10.201 (5.10.x)
- Identify the current kernel version using `uname -r` or `cat /proc/version`
- Determine which kernel branch your current version belongs to (4.14.x, 4.19.x, 5.4.x, or 5.10.x)
- Upgrade to a patched kernel version: For 4.14.x branch, upgrade to >= 4.14.330; For 4.19.x branch, upgrade to >= 4.19.299; For 5.4.x branch, upgrade to >= 5.4.261; For 5.10.x branch, upgrade to >= 5.10.201
- If using a distribution kernel (e.g., Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL), check for and apply distribution-specific security updates that include this fix
- Reboot the system after applying the kernel update to load the fixed kernel
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-52855 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-52855 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
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