Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
HID: apple: validate feature-report field count to prevent NULL pointer dereference
A malicious HID device with quirk APPLE_MAGIC_BACKLIGHT can trigger a NULL
pointer dereference whilst the power feature-report is toggled and sent to
the device in apple_magic_backlight_report_set(). The power feature-report
is expected to have two data fields, but if the descriptor declares one
field then accessing field[1] and dereferencing it in
apple_magic_backlight_report_set() becomes invalid
since field[1] will be NULL.
An example of a minimal descriptor which can cause the crash is something
like the following where the report with ID 3 (power report) only
references a single 1-byte field. When hid core parses the descriptor it
will encounter the final feature tag, allocate a hid_report (all members
of field[] will be zeroed out), create field structure and populate it,
increasing the maxfield to 1. The subsequent field[1] access and
dereference causes the crash.
Usage Page (Vendor Defined 0xFF00)
Usage (0x0F)
Collection (Application)
Report ID (1)
Usage (0x01)
Logical Minimum (0)
Logical Maximum (255)
Report Size (8)
Report Count (1)
Feature (Data,Var,Abs)
Usage (0x02)
Logical Maximum (32767)
Report Size (16)
Report Count (1)
Feature (Data,Var,Abs)
Report ID (3)
Usage (0x03)
Logical Minimum (0)
Logical Maximum (1)
Report Size (8)
Report Count (1)
Feature (Data,Var,Abs)
End Collection
Here we see the KASAN splat when the kernel dereferences the
NULL pointer and crashes:
[ 15.164723] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000006: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
[ 15.165691] KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000030-0x0000000000000037]
[ 15.165691] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 10 Comm: kworker/0:1 Not tainted 6.15.0 #31 PREEMPT(voluntary)
[ 15.165691] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.2-debian-1.16.2-1 04/01/2014
[ 15.165691] RIP: 0010:apple_magic_backlight_report_set+0xbf/0x210
[ 15.165691] Call Trace:
[ 15.165691] <TASK>
[ 15.165691] apple_probe+0x571/0xa20
[ 15.165691] hid_device_probe+0x2e2/0x6f0
[ 15.165691] really_probe+0x1ca/0x5c0
[ 15.165691] __driver_probe_device+0x24f/0x310
[ 15.165691] driver_probe_device+0x4a/0xd0
[ 15.165691] __device_attach_driver+0x169/0x220
[ 15.165691] bus_for_each_drv+0x118/0x1b0
[ 15.165691] __device_attach+0x1d5/0x380
[ 15.165691] device_initial_probe+0x12/0x20
[ 15.165691] bus_probe_device+0x13d/0x180
[ 15.165691] device_add+0xd87/0x1510
[...]
To fix this issue we should validate the number of fields that the
backlight and power reports have and if they do not have the required
number of fields then bail.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.11 | 6.12.42 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | linux | 6.16.3-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | linux | 6.12.43-1 | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 25.10 | linux-azure-fde | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-aws-6.14 +2 | 6.14.0-1017.17~24.04.1 | USN-7934-1, USN-7879-3 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-gcp-6.14 | 6.14.0-1020.21~24.04.1 | USN-7879-4 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-hwe-6.14 | 6.14.0-36.36~24.04.1 | USN-7879-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-intel +12 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-oem-6.14 | 6.14.0-1016.16 | USN-7880-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-riscv-6.14 | 6.14.0-36.36.1~24.04.1 | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | linux-riscv +32 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | linux-gke +28 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | linux-gcp +14 | No fix yet | — |
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | linux-hwe-edge | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS | linux-realtime-6.14 | 6.14.0-1016.16~24.04.1 | USN-7879-2 |
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES for SAP 16.0 | kernel-64kb +7 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1 |
| SLES for SAP 16.0 | kernel-default-base | 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 | SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1 |
| SLES 16.0 | kernel-64kb +7 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:21179-1, SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1 |
| SLES 16.0 | kernel-default-base | 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 | SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1 |
| SLE Micro 6.2 | kernel-default-base | 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 | SUSE-SU-2025:21074-1 |
| SLE Micro 6.2 | kernel-rt +5 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:20560-1, SUSE-SU-2025:21074-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | kernel-default-base | 6.12.0-160000.6.1.160000.2.4 | openSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1 |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | kernel-rt +10 | 6.12.0-160000.6.1 | openSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1 |
Oracle Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle Linux 9 | kernel-uek +34 | 6.12.0-104.43.4.2.el10uek | ELSA-2025-20662 |
Advisories 13
- WID-SEC-2025-1869 Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Nov 12, 2026
- USN-7934-1 linux-azure, linux-azure-6.14 vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 3, 2026
- USN-7879-4 linux-gcp-6.14, linux-raspi vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 3, 2026
- USN-7879-3 linux-aws-6.14, linux-oracle-6.14 vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 3, 2026
- USN-7880-1 linux-oem-6.14 vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 3, 2026
- USN-7879-2 linux-realtime-6.14 vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 3, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:20560-1 Security update for the Linux Kernel SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Jul 9, 2026
- USN-7879-1 linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp, linux-hwe-6.14, linux-oracle, linux-realtime vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Jun 3, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2025:20081-1 Security update for the Linux Kernel SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Mar 23, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2025:21179-1 Security update for the Linux Kernel SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Mar 23, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2025:21139-1 Security update for the Linux Kernel SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Mar 23, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2025:21074-1 Security update for the Linux Kernel SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Mar 23, 2026
- ELSA-2025-20662 Important: Unbreakable Enterprise kernel security update (Oracle Linux 9) Oracle Linux Security Advisories (ELSA) · Oct 14, 2025