medium CVSS 5.5

CVE-2023-52856·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/bridge: lt8912b: Fix crash on bridge detach The lt8912b driver, in its bridge detach function, calls drm_connector_unregister() and drm_connector_cleanup(). drm_connector_unregister() should be called only for connectors explicitly registered with drm_connector_register(), which is not the case in lt8912b. The driver's drm_connector_funcs.destroy hook is set to drm_connector_cleanup(). Thus the driver should not call either drm_connector_unregister() nor drm_connector_cleanup() in its lt8912_bridge_detach(), as they cause a crash on bridge detach: Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000 Mem abort info: ESR = 0x0000000096000006 EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits SET = 0, FnV = 0 EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 FSC = 0x06: level 2 translation fault Data abort info: ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000006, ISS2 = 0x00000000 CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0 GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0 user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=00000000858f3000 [0000000000000000] pgd=0800000085918003, p4d=0800000085918003, pud=0800000085431003, pmd=0000000000000000 Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000006 [#1] PREEMPT SMP Modules linked in: tidss(-) display_connector lontium_lt8912b tc358768 panel_lvds panel_simple drm_dma_helper drm_kms_helper drm drm_panel_orientation_quirks CPU: 3 PID: 462 Comm: rmmod Tainted: G W 6.5.0-rc2+ #2 Hardware name: Toradex Verdin AM62 on Verdin Development Board (DT) pstate: 80000005 (Nzcv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : drm_connector_cleanup+0x78/0x2d4 [drm] lr : lt8912_bridge_detach+0x54/0x6c [lontium_lt8912b] sp : ffff800082ed3a90 x29: ffff800082ed3a90 x28: ffff0000040c1940 x27: 0000000000000000 x26: 0000000000000000 x25: dead000000000122 x24: dead000000000122 x23: dead000000000100 x22: ffff000003fb6388 x21: 0000000000000000 x20: 0000000000000000 x19: ffff000003fb6260 x18: fffffffffffe56e8 x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0010000000000000 x15: 0000000000000038 x14: 0000000000000000 x13: ffff800081914b48 x12: 000000000000040e x11: 000000000000015a x10: ffff80008196ebb8 x9 : ffff800081914b48 x8 : 00000000ffffefff x7 : ffff0000040c1940 x6 : ffff80007aa649d0 x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000001 x3 : ffff80008159e008 x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 Call trace: drm_connector_cleanup+0x78/0x2d4 [drm] lt8912_bridge_detach+0x54/0x6c [lontium_lt8912b] drm_bridge_detach+0x44/0x84 [drm] drm_encoder_cleanup+0x40/0xb8 [drm] drmm_encoder_alloc_release+0x1c/0x30 [drm] drm_managed_release+0xac/0x148 [drm] drm_dev_put.part.0+0x88/0xb8 [drm] devm_drm_dev_init_release+0x14/0x24 [drm] devm_action_release+0x14/0x20 release_nodes+0x5c/0x90 devres_release_all+0x8c/0xe0 device_unbind_cleanup+0x18/0x68 device_release_driver_internal+0x208/0x23c driver_detach+0x4c/0x94 bus_remove_driver+0x70/0xf4 driver_unregister+0x30/0x60 platform_driver_unregister+0x14/0x20 tidss_platform_driver_exit+0x18/0xb2c [tidss] __arm64_sys_delete_module+0x1a0/0x2b4 invoke_syscall+0x48/0x110 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x60/0x10c do_el0_svc_compat+0x1c/0x40 el0_svc_compat+0x40/0xac el0t_32_sync_handler+0xb0/0x138 el0t_32_sync+0x194/0x198 Code: 9104a276 f2fbd5b7 aa0203e1 91008af8 (f85c0420)

Severity
medium
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
6.6.2
Published
2024-05-21

Affected versions

From: 6.6

Until: 6.6.2

Fixed in: 6.6.2

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 6.6.2 or later to resolve this bridge detach crash vulnerability in the lt8912b display driver. The fix removes erroneous calls to drm_connector_unregister() and drm_connector_cleanup() that were causing NULL pointer dereference panics during bridge device removal. Systems using the Lontium LT8912B HDMI bridge chip should prioritize this update to prevent kernel crashes during driver unload operations.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check installed kernel version with: uname -r (vulnerable if showing 6.6.0, 6.6.1, or 6.6.2 and earlier)
  2. Verify if lt8912b driver is loaded: lsmod | grep lt8912b or grep -i lt8912 /proc/modules
  3. Search kernel logs for bridge detach crashes: sudo journalctl -u kernel | grep -i 'lt8912\|bridge_detach\|drm_connector_cleanup'
  4. Confirm the fix by checking kernel version is 6.6.2 or later: uname -r should show 6.6.2 or higher

FAQ

What is CVE-2023-52856?

This vulnerability is a kernel panic in the LT8912B HDMI bridge driver that occurs when the bridge device is detached, caused by improper cleanup of DRM connector resources that leads to a NULL pointer dereference.

Is CVE-2023-52856 being actively exploited?

No, this vulnerability is not being actively exploited in the wild. It is a stability/availability issue requiring local access and specific driver unload conditions to trigger.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2023-52856?

Linux kernel versions 6.6.0 through 6.6.2 are affected. The fix is included in kernel 6.6.2 and all later releases.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2023-52856?

Run 'uname -r' to check your kernel version (vulnerable if 6.6.0-6.6.2), then check if the lt8912b driver is present with 'lsmod | grep lt8912b'. If both conditions are true, your system is vulnerable.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2023-52856?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed kernel package versions against the NVD database. If a vulnerable kernel version is detected on a monitored server, CVE-2023-52856 will appear in your dashboard with remediation steps.

Related Kernel CVEs

CVE-2026-100075CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RDMA/srpt: Fix srpt_alloc_rw_ctxs() unwind counters When srpt_alloc_rw_ctxs() fails partway through a multi-buffer indirect descriptor, the unwind path destroys RDMA contexts but leaves stale n_rw_ctx and n_rdma values (and a dangling rw_ctxs pointer). Later sq_wr_avail accounting in srpt_queue_response() or srpt_write_pending() can then subtract the wrong number of send queue credits. Reset the counters and clear rw_ctxs after freeing the heap allocation before returning an error.
CVE-2026-64397CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: serialize QUERY_DIRECTORY requests per file smb2_query_dir() stores a pointer to its stack-allocated private data in the ksmbd_file readdir_data. Concurrent QUERY_DIRECTORY requests using the same file handle can overwrite this pointer while an iterate_dir() callback is still using it, resulting in a stack use-after-free. Add a per-file mutex and hold it while accessing the shared directory enumeration state. The lock covers scan restart, dot entry state, readdir_data setup and iteration, and response construction. This prevents another request from replacing readdir_data.private before the current request has finished using it and also serializes the shared file position.
CVE-2026-64399CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: add permission checks for FSCTL_DUPLICATE_EXTENTS_TO_FILE The FSCTL_DUPLICATE_EXTENTS_TO_FILE arm of smb2_ioctl() overwrites the destination file's data via vfs_clone_file_range() with neither the share-level KSMBD_TREE_CONN_FLAG_WRITABLE check nor a per-handle fp->daccess check that the other write-bearing arms carry. A client can overwrite destination data on a read-only share, or from a handle opened with only FILE_WRITE_ATTRIBUTES (which still yields an FMODE_WRITE filp). FILE_WRITE_ATTRIBUTES-only destination handle overwrote the file's data via the clone. Add both checks, matching the FSCTL_SET_SPARSE permission fix; require FILE_WRITE_DATA since this writes data.
CVE-2026-64066CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfs: Fix netfs_read_to_pagecache() to pause on subreq failure Fix netfs_read_to_pagecache() so that it pauses the generation of new subrequests if an already-issued subrequest fails.
CVE-2026-52924CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sctp: purge outqueue on stale COOKIE-ECHO handling sctp_stream_update() is only invoked when the association is moved into COOKIE_WAIT during association setup/reconfiguration. In this path, the outbound stream scheduler state (stream->out_curr) is expected to be clean, since no user data should have been transmitted yet unless the state machine has already partially progressed. However, a corner case exists in sctp_sf_do_5_2_6_stale(): when a Stale Cookie ERROR is received, the association is rolled back from COOKIE_ECHOED to COOKIE_WAIT. In this scenario, user data may already have been queued and even bundled with the COOKIE-ECHO chunk. During the rollback, sctp_stream_update() frees the old stream table and installs a new one, but it does not invalidate stream->out_curr. As a result, out_curr may still point to a freed sctp_stream_out entry from the previous stream state. Later, SCTP scheduler dequeue paths (FCFS, RR, PRIO, etc.) rely on stream->out_curr->ext, which can lead to use-after-free once the old stream state has been released via sctp_stream_free(). This results in crashes such as (reported by Yuqi): BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in sctp_sched_fcfs_dequeue+0x13a/0x140 Read of size 8 at addr ff1100004d4d3208 by task mini_poc/9312 CPU: 1 UID: 1001 PID: 9312 Comm: mini_poc Not tainted 7.1.0-rc1-00305-gbd3a4795d574 #5 PREEMPT(full) sctp_sched_fcfs_dequeue+0x13a/0x140 sctp_outq_flush+0x1603/0x33e0 sctp_do_sm+0x31c9/0x5d30 sctp_assoc_bh_rcv+0x392/0x6f0 sctp_inq_push+0x1db/0x270 sctp_rcv+0x138d/0x3c10 Fix this by fully purging the association outqueue when handling the Stale Cookie case. This ensures all pending transmit and retransmit state is dropped, and any scheduler cached pointers are invalidated, making it safe to rebuild stream state during COOKIE_WAIT restart. Updating only stream->out_curr would be insufficient, since queued and retransmittable data would still reference the old stream state and trigger later use-after-free in dequeue paths.

References

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