CVE-2023-53368
MEDIUMDescription
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing: Fix race issue between cpu buffer write and swap Warning happened in rb_end_commit() at code: if (RB_WARN_ON(cpu_buffer, !local_read(&cpu_buffer->committing))) WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 139 at kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c:3142 rb_commit+0x402/0x4a0 Call Trace: ring_buffer_unlock_commit+0x42/0x250 trace_buffer_unlock_commit_regs+0x3b/0x250 trace_event_buffer_commit+0xe5/0x440 trace_event_buffer_reserve+0x11c/0x150 trace_event_raw_event_sched_switch+0x23c/0x2c0 __traceiter_sched_switch+0x59/0x80 __schedule+0x72b/0x1580 schedule+0x92/0x120 worker_thread+0xa0/0x6f0 It is because the race between writing event into cpu buffer and swapping cpu buffer through file per_cpu/cpu0/snapshot: Write on CPU 0 Swap buffer by per_cpu/cpu0/snapshot on CPU 1 -------- -------- tracing_snapshot_write() [...] ring_buffer_lock_reserve() cpu_buffer = buffer->buffers[cpu]; // 1. Suppose find 'cpu_buffer_a'; [...] rb_reserve_next_event() [...] ring_buffer_swap_cpu() if (local_read(&cpu_buffer_a->committing)) goto out_dec; if (local_read(&cpu_buffer_b->committing)) goto out_dec; buffer_a->buffers[cpu] = cpu_buffer_b; buffer_b->buffers[cpu] = cpu_buffer_a; // 2. cpu_buffer has swapped here. rb_start_commit(cpu_buffer); if (unlikely(READ_ONCE(cpu_buffer->buffer) != buffer)) { // 3. This check passed due to 'cpu_buffer->buffer' [...] // has not changed here. return NULL; } cpu_buffer_b->buffer = buffer_a; cpu_buffer_a->buffer = buffer_b; [...] // 4. Reserve event from 'cpu_buffer_a'. ring_buffer_unlock_commit() [...] cpu_buffer = buffer->buffers[cpu]; // 5. Now find 'cpu_buffer_b' !!! rb_commit(cpu_buffer) rb_end_commit() // 6. WARN for the wrong 'committing' state !!! Based on above analysis, we can easily reproduce by following testcase: ``` bash #!/bin/bash dmesg -n 7 sysctl -w kernel.panic_on_warn=1 TR=/sys/kernel/tracing echo 7 > ${TR}/buffer_size_kb echo "sched:sched_switch" > ${TR}/set_event while [ true ]; do echo 1 > ${TR}/per_cpu/cpu0/snapshot done & while [ true ]; do echo 1 > ${TR}/per_cpu/cpu0/snapshot done & while [ true ]; do echo 1 > ${TR}/per_cpu/cpu0/snapshot done & ``` To fix it, IIUC, we can use smp_call_function_single() to do the swap on the target cpu where the buffer is located, so that above race would be avoided.
How to fix
Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Exploit Intelligence
Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 2% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-362 (Race Condition) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2024-6387 | High | 8.1 | 100% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2023-36884 | High | 7.5 | 99% | KEV + Ransom | Fix |
| CVE-2018-15473 | Medium | 5.3 | 99% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-27983 | High | 8.2 | 87% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2014-0226 | Medium | 6.8 | 86% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2016-5195 | High | 7.0 | 84% | KEV | Fix |
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Start freeThis product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2026-01-14.