CVE-2023-53537

Published Oct 4, 2025

Last updated 3 months ago

Overview

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: f2fs: fix to avoid use-after-free for cached IPU bio xfstest generic/019 reports a bug: kernel BUG at mm/filemap.c:1619! RIP: 0010:folio_end_writeback+0x8a/0x90 Call Trace: end_page_writeback+0x1c/0x60 f2fs_write_end_io+0x199/0x420 bio_endio+0x104/0x180 submit_bio_noacct+0xa5/0x510 submit_bio+0x48/0x80 f2fs_submit_write_bio+0x35/0x300 f2fs_submit_merged_ipu_write+0x2a0/0x2b0 f2fs_write_single_data_page+0x838/0x8b0 f2fs_write_cache_pages+0x379/0xa30 f2fs_write_data_pages+0x30c/0x340 do_writepages+0xd8/0x1b0 __writeback_single_inode+0x44/0x370 writeback_sb_inodes+0x233/0x4d0 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x56/0xf0 wb_writeback+0x1dd/0x2d0 wb_workfn+0x367/0x4a0 process_one_work+0x21d/0x430 worker_thread+0x4e/0x3c0 kthread+0x103/0x130 ret_from_fork+0x2c/0x50 The root cause is: after cp_error is set, f2fs_submit_merged_ipu_write() in f2fs_write_single_data_page() tries to flush IPU bio in cache, however f2fs_submit_merged_ipu_write() missed to check validity of @bio parameter, result in submitting random cached bio which belong to other IO context, then it will cause use-after-free issue, fix it by adding additional validity check.
Source
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD status
Modified
Products
linux_kernel

Risk scores

CVSS 3.1

Type
Primary
Base score
7.8
Impact score
5.9
Exploitability score
1.8
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Severity
HIGH

Weaknesses

nvd@nist.gov
CWE-416

Social media

Hype score
Not currently trending

Configurations

  1. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cgroup: Avoid iteration of dying tasks with zero refcount The commit 260fbcb92bbea ("cgroup: Move dying_tasks cleanup from cgroup_task_release() to cgroup_task_free()") extended the lifetime of tasks on the dying_tasks list. The iterators have provision to go through dying_tasks because of dying threadgroup leaders or explicit CSS_TASK_ITER_WITH_DEAD, however, it was expected that such tasks can obtain a new reference (that is possible before cgroup_task_release()/put_task_struct_rcu_user()). The tasks after cgroup_task_release() and before cgroup_task_free() are subject to race when they may or may not have ->usage count > 0. The race window is between css_task_iter_next() invocations when css_set_lock is released and we may arrive at a new ->task_pos. The iterator should not attempt to resurrect tasks whose ->usage count dropped to zero. (When that happens, __put_task_struct_rcu_cb() is already imminent and the returned task_struct would could be used after free.) As for the fix, we cannot simply check the signal->live count of a task on the dying list because that won't distinguish regular zombies waiting to be reaped from RCU remnant tasks that are going to be free'd. Therefore add an extra check to rule out ->usage==0 tasks from any iteration. The repeat: loop in css_task_iter_advance() doesn't consider ->usage count, so add a new loop to css_task_iter_next() to skip de-used tasks on the dying_list. Rough illustration of the possible race R (reader of cgroup.procs) T (thread) L (group leader) --------------------------------- -------------------------------- -------------------------------- L exits, signal->live > 0 cgroup_task_dead(L) css_set_skip_task_iters() // skips only cset->tasks list_add_tail(&L->cg_list, &cset->dying_tasks) css_task_iter_next() take css_set_lock css_task_iter_advance() leader && signal->live != 0 => it->task_pos = &L->cg_list release css_set_lock T exits --signal->live == 0 cgroup_task_dead(T) // css_set_lock release_task(T) cgroup_task_release(T) release_task(L) // zap_leader cgroup_task_release(L) put_task_struct_rcu_user(L) ...RCU... put_task_struct(L) L->usage = 0 /* L still on dying_tasks */ ...RCU... __put_task_struct(L) css_task_iter_next() // another iteration take css_set_lock it->task_pos = &L->cg_list get_task_struct(L) => addition on 0 drop css_set_lock cgroup_task_free(L) css_set_skip_task_iters() // dying skip comes too late free_task(L) cgroup_procs_show() task_pid_vnr(L)•CVE-2026-98163