CVE-2023-52849
kernel: cxl/mem: Fix shutdown order
Severity
LowRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.1
Review impact separately from score.
Published · May 21, 2024
Updated · November 21, 2025
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
cxl/mem: Fix shutdown order
Ira reports that removing cxl_mock_mem causes a crash with the following trace:
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000044 [..] RIP: 0010:cxl_region_decode_reset+0x7f/0x180 [cxl_core] [..] Call Trace: <TASK> cxl_region_detach+0xe8/0x210 [cxl_core] cxl_decoder_kill_region+0x27/0x40 [cxl_core] cxld_unregister+0x29/0x40 [cxl_core] devres_release_all+0xb8/0x110 device_unbind_cleanup+0xe/0x70 device_release_driver_internal+0x1d2/0x210 bus_remove_device+0xd7/0x150 device_del+0x155/0x3e0 device_unregister+0x13/0x60 devm_release_action+0x4d/0x90 ? __pfx_unregister_port+0x10/0x10 [cxl_core] delete_endpoint+0x121/0x130 [cxl_core] devres_release_all+0xb8/0x110 device_unbind_cleanup+0xe/0x70 device_release_driver_internal+0x1d2/0x210 bus_remove_device+0xd7/0x150 device_del+0x155/0x3e0 ? lock_release+0x142/0x290 cdev_device_del+0x15/0x50 cxl_memdev_unregister+0x54/0x70 [cxl_core]
This crash is due to the clearing out the cxl_memdev's driver context (@cxlds) before the subsystem is done with it. This is ultimately due to the region(s), that this memdev is a member, being torn down and expecting to be able to de-reference @cxlds, like here:
static int cxl_region_decode_reset(struct cxl_region *cxlr, int count) ... if (cxlds->rcd) goto endpoint_reset; ...
Fix it by keeping the driver context valid until memdev-device unregistration, and subsequently the entire stack of related dependencies, unwinds.
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
No mitigation is specified in collected source.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.1 · 4.4CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE-476 · NULL Pointer Dereference