CVE-2023-54222: 
Linux Kernel vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2023-54222 is an off-by-one out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the Linux kernel's Hardware Timestamping Engine (HTE) driver for NVIDIA Tegra194 platforms. The flaw exists in the tegra_hte_map_to_line_id() function, where a > comparison should be >=, allowing an index to reach one element past the end of the m array. It affects Linux kernel versions starting from commit 09574cca6ad6 up to the fixes applied in stable releases 6.1.28, 6.2.15, 6.3.2, and 6.4. The vulnerability was published on December 30, 2025, with an estimated CVSS severity of Medium and an EPSS score of approximately 0.018% (Feedly, EUVD).

The root cause is a classic off-by-one error (CWE-193) in the tegra_hte_map_to_line_id() function within the drivers/hte/tegra194-hte.c file of the Linux kernel. The variable map_sz represents the total number of elements in the lookup array m, but the boundary check used > instead of >=, meaning an index equal to map_sz would not be caught and would result in an out-of-bounds read of one element beyond the array's valid range. This is a local kernel driver issue specific to NVIDIA Tegra194 hardware, and exploitation would require the ability to interact with the HTE subsystem on affected hardware (Feedly, EUVD).

The primary impact is an out-of-bounds memory read in kernel space, which could lead to information disclosure of kernel memory contents or, in certain conditions, a kernel panic causing a denial of service. Because the flaw is confined to the Tegra194 HTE driver, it only affects systems running on NVIDIA Tegra194 hardware (e.g., Jetson AGX Xavier platforms) with the relevant kernel driver loaded. The risk of privilege escalation or remote code execution is considered low given the nature of the bug (Feedly, EUVD).

The fix has been backported to Linux stable kernel releases 6.1.28, 6.2.15, 6.3.2, and 6.4, changing the boundary check in tegra_hte_map_to_line_id() from > to >=. Users running affected Tegra194-based systems should update to one of these patched kernel versions. The relevant upstream fix commits are fed87ce073c7, aedc364a7c9c, 2a488602e3f0, and e078180d6684 (EUVD, Kernel Stable).