linux-cve-announce - CVE-2023-53718: ring-buffer: Do not swap cpu

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Message-ID: <2025102214-CVE-2023-53718-9142@gregkh>
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2025 15:24:57 +0200
From: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
To: linux-cve-announce@...r.kernel.org
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...nel.org>
Subject: CVE-2023-53718: ring-buffer: Do not swap cpu_buffer during resize process

From: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...nel.org>

Description
===========

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ring-buffer: Do not swap cpu_buffer during resize process

When ring_buffer_swap_cpu was called during resize process,
the cpu buffer was swapped in the middle, resulting in incorrect state.
Continuing to run in the wrong state will result in oops.

This issue can be easily reproduced using the following two scripts:
/tmp # cat test1.sh
//#! /bin/sh
for i in `seq 0 100000`
do
         echo 2000 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/buffer_size_kb
         sleep 0.5
         echo 5000 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/buffer_size_kb
         sleep 0.5
done
/tmp # cat test2.sh
//#! /bin/sh
for i in `seq 0 100000`
do
        echo irqsoff > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/current_tracer
        sleep 1
        echo nop > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/current_tracer
        sleep 1
done
/tmp # ./test1.sh &
/tmp # ./test2.sh &

A typical oops log is as follows, sometimes with other different oops logs.

[  231.711293] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 9 at kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c:2026 rb_update_pages+0x378/0x3f8
[  231.713375] Modules linked in:
[  231.714735] CPU: 0 PID: 9 Comm: kworker/0:1 Tainted: G        W          6.5.0-rc1-00276-g20edcec23f92 #15
[  231.716750] Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT)
[  231.718152] Workqueue: events update_pages_handler
[  231.719714] pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[  231.721171] pc : rb_update_pages+0x378/0x3f8
[  231.722212] lr : rb_update_pages+0x25c/0x3f8
[  231.723248] sp : ffff800082b9bd50
[  231.724169] x29: ffff800082b9bd50 x28: ffff8000825f7000 x27: 0000000000000000
[  231.726102] x26: 0000000000000001 x25: fffffffffffff010 x24: 0000000000000ff0
[  231.728122] x23: ffff0000c3a0b600 x22: ffff0000c3a0b5c0 x21: fffffffffffffe0a
[  231.730203] x20: ffff0000c3a0b600 x19: ffff0000c0102400 x18: 0000000000000000
[  231.732329] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000ffffe7aa8510
[  231.734212] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000002
[  231.736291] x11: ffff8000826998a8 x10: ffff800082b9baf0 x9 : ffff800081137558
[  231.738195] x8 : fffffc00030e82c8 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000001
[  231.740192] x5 : ffff0000ffbafe00 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000000
[  231.742118] x2 : 00000000000006aa x1 : 0000000000000001 x0 : ffff0000c0007208
[  231.744196] Call trace:
[  231.744892]  rb_update_pages+0x378/0x3f8
[  231.745893]  update_pages_handler+0x1c/0x38
[  231.746893]  process_one_work+0x1f0/0x468
[  231.747852]  worker_thread+0x54/0x410
[  231.748737]  kthread+0x124/0x138
[  231.749549]  ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20
[  231.750434] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
[  233.720486] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000
[  233.721696] Mem abort info:
[  233.721935]   ESR = 0x0000000096000004
[  233.722283]   EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
[  233.722596]   SET = 0, FnV = 0
[  233.722805]   EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
[  233.723026]   FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault
[  233.723458] Data abort info:
[  233.723734]   ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004, ISS2 = 0x00000000
[  233.724176]   CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0
[  233.724589]   GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0
[  233.725075] user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000104943000
[  233.725592] [0000000000000000] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=0000000000000000
[  233.726231] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
[  233.726720] Modules linked in:
[  233.727007] CPU: 0 PID: 9 Comm: kworker/0:1 Tainted: G        W          6.5.0-rc1-00276-g20edcec23f92 #15
[  233.727777] Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT)
[  233.728225] Workqueue: events update_pages_handler
[  233.728655] pstate: 200000c5 (nzCv daIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[  233.729054] pc : rb_update_pages+0x1a8/0x3f8
[  233.729334] lr : rb_update_pages+0x154/0x3f8
[  233.729592] sp : ffff800082b9bd50
[  233.729792] x29: ffff800082b9bd50 x28: ffff8000825f7000 x27: 0000000000000000
[  233.730220] x26: 0000000000000000 x25: ffff800082a8b840 x24: ffff0000c0102418
[  233.730653] x23: 0000000000000000 x22: fffffc000304c880 x21: 0000000000000003
[  233.731105] x20: 00000000000001f4 x19: ffff0000c0102400 x18: ffff800082fcbc58
[  233.731727] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000001 x15: 0000000000000001
[  233.732282] x14: ffff8000825fe0c8 x13: 0000000000000001 x12: 0000000000000000
[  233.732709] x11: ffff8000826998a8 x10: 0000000000000ae0 x9 : ffff8000801b760c
[  233.733148] x8 : fefefefefefefeff x7 : 0000000000000018 x6 : ffff0000c03298c0
[  233.733553] x5 : 0000000000000002 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000000
[  233.733972] x2 : ffff0000c3a0b600 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000
[  233.734418] Call trace:
[  233.734593]  rb_update_pages+0x1a8/0x3f8
[  233.734853]  update_pages_handler+0x1c/0x38
[  233.735148]  process_one_work+0x1f0/0x468
[  233.735525]  worker_thread+0x54/0x410
[  233.735852]  kthread+0x124/0x138
[  233.736064]  ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20
[  233.736387] Code: 92400000 910006b5 aa000021 aa0303f7 (f9400060)
[  233.736959] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

After analysis, the seq of the error is as follows [1-5]:

int ring_buffer_resize(struct trace_buffer *buffer, unsigned long size,
			int cpu_id)
{
	for_each_buffer_cpu(buffer, cpu) {
		cpu_buffer = buffer->buffers[cpu];
		//1. get cpu_buffer, aka cpu_buffer(A)
		...
		...
		schedule_work_on(cpu,
		 &cpu_buffer->update_pages_work);
		//2. 'update_pages_work' is queue on 'cpu', cpu_buffer(A) is passed to
		// update_pages_handler, do the update process, set 'update_done' in
		// complete(&cpu_buffer->update_done) and to wakeup resize process.
	//---->
		//3. Just at this moment, ring_buffer_swap_cpu is triggered,
		//cpu_buffer(A) be swaped to cpu_buffer(B), the max_buffer.
		//ring_buffer_swap_cpu is called as the 'Call trace' below.

		Call trace:
		 dump_backtrace+0x0/0x2f8
		 show_stack+0x18/0x28
		 dump_stack+0x12c/0x188
		 ring_buffer_swap_cpu+0x2f8/0x328
		 update_max_tr_single+0x180/0x210
		 check_critical_timing+0x2b4/0x2c8
		 tracer_hardirqs_on+0x1c0/0x200
		 trace_hardirqs_on+0xec/0x378
		 el0_svc_common+0x64/0x260
		 do_el0_svc+0x90/0xf8
		 el0_svc+0x20/0x30
		 el0_sync_handler+0xb0/0xb8
		 el0_sync+0x180/0x1c0
	//<----

	/* wait for all the updates to complete */
	for_each_buffer_cpu(buffer, cpu) {
		cpu_buffer = buffer->buffers[cpu];
		//4. get cpu_buffer, cpu_buffer(B) is used in the following process,
		//the state of cpu_buffer(A) and cpu_buffer(B) is totally wrong.
		//for example, cpu_buffer(A)->update_done will leave be set 1, and will
		//not 'wait_for_completion' at the next resize round.
		  if (!cpu_buffer->nr_pages_to_update)
			continue;

		if (cpu_online(cpu))
			wait_for_completion(&cpu_buffer->update_done);
		cpu_buffer->nr_pages_to_update = 0;
	}
	...
}
	//5. the state of cpu_buffer(A) and cpu_buffer(B) is totally wrong,
	//Continuing to run in the wrong state, then oops occurs.

The Linux kernel CVE team has assigned CVE-2023-53718 to this issue.


Affected and fixed versions
===========================

	Fixed in 5.10.192 with commit 66a3b2a121386702663065d5c9e5a33c03d3f4a2
	Fixed in 5.15.128 with commit 49b830d75f03d5dd41146d10e4d3e2a8211c4b94
	Fixed in 6.1.47 with commit 128c06a34cfe55212632533a706b050d54552741
	Fixed in 6.4.12 with commit 02e52d7daaa3f0f48819f198092cf4871065bbf7
	Fixed in 6.5 with commit 8a96c0288d0737ad77882024974c075345c72011

Please see https://www.kernel.org for a full list of currently supported
kernel versions by the kernel community.

Unaffected versions might change over time as fixes are backported to
older supported kernel versions.  The official CVE entry at
	https://cve.org/CVERecord/?id=CVE-2023-53718
will be updated if fixes are backported, please check that for the most
up to date information about this issue.


Affected files
==============

The file(s) affected by this issue are:
	kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c
	kernel/trace/trace.c


Mitigation
==========

The Linux kernel CVE team recommends that you update to the latest
stable kernel version for this, and many other bugfixes.  Individual
changes are never tested alone, but rather are part of a larger kernel
release.  Cherry-picking individual commits is not recommended or
supported by the Linux kernel community at all.  If however, updating to
the latest release is impossible, the individual changes to resolve this
issue can be found at these commits:
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/66a3b2a121386702663065d5c9e5a33c03d3f4a2
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/49b830d75f03d5dd41146d10e4d3e2a8211c4b94
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/128c06a34cfe55212632533a706b050d54552741
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/02e52d7daaa3f0f48819f198092cf4871065bbf7
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8a96c0288d0737ad77882024974c075345c72011