CVE-2023-54198: tty: fix out-of-bounds access in tty_driver_lookup_tty()
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2023-54198 is a high (CVSS 7.8) vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.15% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 4.6% of scored vulnerabilities.
Not severe (CVSS 7.8, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 6 · Related 5Timeline
- 30-12-2025PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 15-10-2026Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tty: fix out-of-bounds access in tty_driver_lookup_tty() When specifying an invalid console= device like console=tty3270, tty_driver_lookup_tty() returns the tty struct without checking whether index is a valid number. To reproduce: qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -nographic -serial mon:stdio \ -kernel ../linux-build-x86/arch/x86/boot/bzImage \ -append "console=ttyS0 console=tty3270" This crashes with: [ 0.770599] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000ef [ 0.771265] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 0.771773] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 0.772609] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI [ 0.774878] RIP: 0010:tty_open+0x268/0x6f0 [ 0.784013] chrdev_open+0xbd/0x230 [ 0.784444] ? cdev_device_add+0x80/0x80 [ 0.784920] do_dentry_open+0x1e0/0x410 [ 0.785389] path_openat+0xca9/0x1050 [ 0.785813] do_filp_open+0xaa/0x150 [ 0.786240] file_open_name+0x133/0x1b0 [ 0.786746] filp_open+0x27/0x50 [ 0.787244] console_on_rootfs+0x14/0x4d [ 0.787800] kernel_init_freeable+0x1e4/0x20d [ 0.788383] ? rest_init+0xc0/0xc0 [ 0.788881] kernel_init+0x11/0x120 [ 0.789356] ret_from_fork+0x22/0x30
CVSS metrics
4 scores · 4 sources · 1 version- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- NVDNIST7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
0.15%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
5%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
No change 0.00 pp
From 0.15% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEVNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
ENISA CNWNot in the ENISA CNW catalog.
CIRCLNot in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeNo weakness data has been published for this record.
Affected systems
Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Ubuntu124 products
- linuxAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 5.4.0-152.169 | < 5.15.0-79.86
- linux-allwinner-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-awsAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 5.4.0-1104.112 | < 5.15.0-1042.47
- linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
Debian1 product
- linux< 6.1.20-1
Linux1 product
- linux≥ 99f1fe189daf8e99a847e420567e49dd7ee2aae7, < 3df6f492f500a16c231f07ccc6f6ed1302caddf9 | ≥ 99f1fe189daf8e99a847e420567e49dd7ee2aae7, < b79109d6470aaae7062998353e3a19449055829d | ≥ 99f1fe189daf8e99a847e420567e49dd7ee2aae7, < 953a4a352a0c185460ae1449e4c6e6658e55fdfc | ≥ 99f1fe189daf8e99a847e420567e49dd7ee2aae7, < 84ea44dc3e4ecb2632586238014bf6722aa5843b | ≥ 99f1fe189daf8e99a847e420567e49dd7ee2aae7, < f9d9d25ad1f0d060eaf297a2f7f03b5855a45561 | ≥ 99f1fe189daf8e99a847e420567e49dd7ee2aae7, < 765566110eb0da3cf60198b0165ecceeaafa6444 | ≥ 99f1fe189daf8e99a847e420567e49dd7ee2aae7, < fcfeaa570f7a5c2d5f4f14931909531ff18b7fde | ≥ 99f1fe189daf8e99a847e420567e49dd7ee2aae7, < db4df8e9d79e7d37732c1a1b560958e8dadfefa1 | 2.6.28
3 vendors · 126 products
