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Fencer Vulns
no cvss —

CVE-2023-53709 json

ring-buffer: Handle race between rb_move_tail and rb_check_pages

published 2025-10-22 12 mo ago modified 2026-10-28 11 d ago also EUVD-2023-60019

cvss
—
not scored
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 9%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

ring-buffer: Handle race between rb_move_tail and rb_check_pages

It seems a data race between ring_buffer writing and integrity check. That is, RB_FLAG of head_page is been updating, while at same time RB_FLAG was cleared when doing integrity check rb_check_pages():

rb_check_pages() rb_handle_head_page(): -------- -------- rb_head_page_deactivate() rb_head_page_set_normal() rb_head_page_activate()

We do intergrity test of the list to check if the list is corrupted and it is still worth doing it. So, let's refactor rb_check_pages() such that we no longer clear and set flag during the list sanity checking.

[1] and [2] are the test to reproduce and the crash report respectively.

1: ``` read_trace.sh while true; do # the "trace" file is closed after read head -1 /sys/kernel/tracing/trace > /dev/null done ``` ``` repro.sh sysctl -w kernel.panic_on_warn=1 # function tracer will writing enough data into ring_buffer echo function > /sys/kernel/tracing/current_tracer ./read_trace.sh & ./read_trace.sh & ./read_trace.sh & ./read_trace.sh & ./read_trace.sh & ./read_trace.sh & ./read_trace.sh & ./read_trace.sh & ```

2: ------------[ cut here ]------------ WARNING: CPU: 9 PID: 62 at kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c:2653 rb_move_tail+0x450/0x470 Modules linked in: CPU: 9 PID: 62 Comm: ksoftirqd/9 Tainted: G W 6.2.0-rc6+ Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.15.0-0-g2dd4b9b3f840-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:rb_move_tail+0x450/0x470 Code: ff ff 4c 89 c8 f0 4d 0f b1 02 48 89 c2 48 83 e2 fc 49 39 d0 75 24 83 e0 03 83 f8 02 0f 84 e1 fb ff ff 48 8b 57 10 f0 ff 42 08 <0f> 0b 83 f8 02 0f 84 ce fb ff ff e9 db RSP: 0018:ffffb5564089bd00 EFLAGS: 00000203 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff9db385a2bf81 RCX: ffffb5564089bd18 RDX: ffff9db281110100 RSI: 0000000000000fe4 RDI: ffff9db380145400 RBP: ffff9db385a2bf80 R08: ffff9db385a2bfc0 R09: ffff9db385a2bfc2 R10: ffff9db385a6c000 R11: ffff9db385a2bf80 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 00000000000003e8 R14: ffff9db281110100 R15: ffffffffbb006108 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff9db3bdcc0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00005602323024c8 CR3: 0000000022e0c000 CR4: 00000000000006e0 Call Trace: <TASK> ring_buffer_lock_reserve+0x136/0x360 ? __do_softirq+0x287/0x2df ? __pfx_rcu_softirq_qs+0x10/0x10 trace_function+0x21/0x110 ? __pfx_rcu_softirq_qs+0x10/0x10 ? __do_softirq+0x287/0x2df function_trace_call+0xf6/0x120 0xffffffffc038f097 ? rcu_softirq_qs+0x5/0x140 rcu_softirq_qs+0x5/0x140 __do_softirq+0x287/0x2df run_ksoftirqd+0x2a/0x30 smpboot_thread_fn+0x188/0x220 ? __pfx_smpboot_thread_fn+0x10/0x10 kthread+0xe7/0x110 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork+0x2c/0x50 </TASK> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

[ crash report and test reproducer credit goes to Zheng Yejian]

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 5.10.173, 5.15.99, 6.1.16, 6.2.3, 6.3
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 6.1.20-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53709

  • linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-75.82
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1038.43
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1036.44
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1036.41
  • linux-ibm Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1032.35
  • linux-kvm Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1035.40
  • linux-azure Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1040.47
  • linux-gkeop Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1022.27

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53709

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • rv RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • perf RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • rtla RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • bpftool RHEL 9 7.3.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • libperf RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • kernel-rt RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
  • kernel-64k RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4

red hat advisories RHSA-2024:2394

  • kernel-64kb SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1
  • kernel-syms SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS +1 more 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1
  • kernel-source SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE Micro 5.5 +2 more 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1
  • kernel-default SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE Micro 5.5 +3 more 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1
  • kernel-obs-build SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS +1 more 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1
  • kernel-default-base SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES 15 SP5-LTSS, SLE Micro 5.5 +2 more 5.14.21-150500.55.127.1.150500.6.61.1
  • kernel-rt SLE Micro 5.5 5.14.21-150500.13.112.1
  • kernel-source-rt SLE Micro 5.5 5.14.21-150500.13.112.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:4320-1SUSE-SU-2025:4149-1SUSE-SU-2025:4139-1SUSE-SU-2025:4111-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2023-53709 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: ring-buffer: Handle race between rb_move_tail and rb_check_pages

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-core, kernel-rt-modules, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, kernel-rt-debug-core, +12 more
    affected: no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) rv 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, perf 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, rtla 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-devel-matched 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-64k-devel-matched 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-debug-devel-matched 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, +6 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) bpftool 7.3.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-64k 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-tools 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, python3-perf 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, +28 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 9) libperf 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-kvm 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, +6 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-modules-core 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-modules 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:2394
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.20% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 9% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.