CVE-2023-52973

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

Published Mar 27, 2025 CVSS 3.1 · 7.8 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
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

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
EUVD EUVD EUVD-2023-59747 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
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat rhel Eus
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_eus:9.2
cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_eus:9.2::nfv
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
cpe:/o:redhat:rhel_eus:8.8
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat rhel Eus
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-416
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
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
Title vc_screen: move load of struct vc_data pointer in vcs_read() to avoid UAF
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Linux
Published
Updated
Aug 5, 2026, 9:12 AM
Reserved
Mar 27, 2025, 4:40 PM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Mar 27, 2025, 5:15 PM
Modified
Jun 17, 2026, 6:44 AM
Severity
Moderate
Public date
Mar 27, 2025, 12:00 AM