CVE-2023-53655

Published Oct 7, 2025

Last updated 9 months ago

Overview

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rcu: Avoid stack overflow due to __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick() being kprobe-ed Registering a kprobe on __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick() can cause kernel stack overflow as shown below. This issue can be reproduced by enabling CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL and booting the kernel with argument "nohz_full=", and then giving the following commands at the shell prompt: # cd /sys/kernel/tracing/ # echo 'p:mp1 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick' >> kprobe_events # echo 1 > events/kprobes/enable This commit therefore adds __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick() to the kprobes blacklist using NOKPROBE_SYMBOL(). Insufficient stack space to handle exception! ESR: 0x00000000f2000004 -- BRK (AArch64) FAR: 0x0000ffffccf3e510 Task stack: [0xffff80000ad30000..0xffff80000ad38000] IRQ stack: [0xffff800008050000..0xffff800008058000] Overflow stack: [0xffff089c36f9f310..0xffff089c36fa0310] CPU: 5 PID: 190 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-00320-g1f5abbd77e2c #19 Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) pstate: 400003c5 (nZcv DAIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 lr : ct_nmi_enter+0x11c/0x138 sp : ffff80000ad30080 x29: ffff80000ad30080 x28: ffff089c82e20000 x27: 0000000000000000 x26: 0000000000000000 x25: ffff089c02a8d100 x24: 0000000000000000 x23: 00000000400003c5 x22: 0000ffffccf3e510 x21: ffff089c36fae148 x20: ffff80000ad30120 x19: ffffa8da8fcce148 x18: 0000000000000000 x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: ffffa8da8e44ea6c x14: ffffa8da8e44e968 x13: ffffa8da8e03136c x12: 1fffe113804d6809 x11: ffff6113804d6809 x10: 0000000000000a60 x9 : dfff800000000000 x8 : ffff089c026b404f x7 : 00009eec7fb297f7 x6 : 0000000000000001 x5 : ffff80000ad30120 x4 : dfff800000000000 x3 : ffffa8da8e3016f4 x2 : 0000000000000003 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 Kernel panic - not syncing: kernel stack overflow CPU: 5 PID: 190 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-00320-g1f5abbd77e2c #19 Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) Call trace: dump_backtrace+0xf8/0x108 show_stack+0x20/0x30 dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0x84 dump_stack+0x1c/0x38 panic+0x214/0x404 add_taint+0x0/0xf8 panic_bad_stack+0x144/0x160 handle_bad_stack+0x38/0x58 __bad_stack+0x78/0x7c __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 [...] el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 el1_interrupt+0x28/0x60 el1h_64_irq_handler+0x18/0x28 el1h_64_irq+0x64/0x68 __ftrace_set_clr_event_nolock+0x98/0x198 __ftrace_set_clr_event+0x58/0x80 system_enable_write+0x144/0x178 vfs_write+0x174/0x738 ksys_write+0xd0/0x188 __arm64_sys_write+0x4c/0x60 invoke_syscall+0x64/0x180 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x84/0x160 do_el0_svc+0x48/0xe8 el0_svc+0x34/0xd0 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xb8/0xc0 el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 SMP: stopping secondary CPUs Kernel Offset: 0x28da86000000 from 0xffff800008000000 PHYS_OFFSET: 0xfffff76600000000 CPU features: 0x00000,01a00100,0000421b Memory Limit: none
Source
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD status
Analyzed
Products
linux_kernel

Risk scores

CVSS 3.1

Type
Primary
Base score
5.5
Impact score
3.6
Exploitability score
1.8
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Severity
MEDIUM

Weaknesses

nvd@nist.gov
CWE-674

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