CVE-2017-16525 — The usb_serial_console_disconnect function in drivers/usb/serial/console

The usb_serial_console_disconnect function in drivers/usb/serial/console.c in the Linux kernel before 4.13.8 allows local users to cause a denial of service (use-after-free and system crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted USB device, related to disconnect

01What is this vulnerability?

The usb_serial_console_disconnect function in drivers/usb/serial/console.c in the Linux kernel before 4.13.8 allows local users to cause a denial of service (use-after-free and system crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted USB device, related to disconnection and failed setup.

02Affected products

No structured affected-product list available — see references below for vendor advisories.

03Active exploitation status

Not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. EPSS is the best forward-looking signal — see the EPSS row above.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Ask SARA in chat to draft a starting detection for this CVE in your stack of choice.

07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2017-11-04T01:29:36.740
• Last modified: 2026-05-13T00:24:29.033

09References

• www.securityfocus.com — http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/102028
• github.com — https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/299d7572e46f98534033a9e65973f13ad1ce904…
• github.com — https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/bd998c2e0df0469707503023d50d46cf0b10c78…
• groups.google.com — https://groups.google.com/d/msg/syzkaller/cMACrmo1x0k/4KhRoUgABAAJ
• lists.debian.org — https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2017/12/msg00004.html
• usn.ubuntu.com — https://usn.ubuntu.com/3583-1/
• usn.ubuntu.com — https://usn.ubuntu.com/3583-2/
• www.securityfocus.com — http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/102028
• github.com — https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/299d7572e46f98534033a9e65973f13ad1ce904…
• github.com — https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/bd998c2e0df0469707503023d50d46cf0b10c78…