Linux Kernel up to 6.4.6 watchdog cond_resched memory leak

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Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.6. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function cond_resched of the component watchdog. The manipulation leads to memory leak. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2023-53151. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.6. This issue affects the function cond_resched of the component watchdog. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: md/raid10: prevent soft lockup while flush writes Currently, there is no limit for raid1/raid10 plugged bio. While flushing writes, raid1 has cond_resched() while raid10 doesn't, and too many writes can cause soft lockup. Follow up soft lockup can be triggered easily with writeback test for raid10 with ramdisks: watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#10 stuck for 27s! [md0_raid10:1293] Call Trace: <TASK> call_rcu+0x16/0x20 put_object+0x41/0x80 __delete_object+0x50/0x90 delete_object_full+0x2b/0x40 kmemleak_free+0x46/0xa0 slab_free_freelist_hook.constprop.0+0xed/0x1a0 kmem_cache_free+0xfd/0x300 mempool_free_slab+0x1f/0x30 mempool_free+0x3a/0x100 bio_free+0x59/0x80 bio_put+0xcf/0x2c0 free_r10bio+0xbf/0xf0 raid_end_bio_io+0x78/0xb0 one_write_done+0x8a/0xa0 raid10_end_write_request+0x1b4/0x430 bio_endio+0x175/0x320 brd_submit_bio+0x3b9/0x9b7 [brd] __submit_bio+0x69/0xe0 submit_bio_noacct_nocheck+0x1e6/0x5a0 submit_bio_noacct+0x38c/0x7e0 flush_pending_writes+0xf0/0x240 raid10d+0xac/0x1ed0 Fix the problem by adding cond_resched() to raid10 like what raid1 did. Note that unlimited plugged bio still need to be optimized, for example, in the case of lots of dirty pages writeback, this will take lots of memory and io will spend a long time in plug, hence io latency is bad.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-53151 since 05/02/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 302405 (EulerOS 2.0 SP10 : kernel (EulerOS-SA-2026-1313)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 4.14.322, 4.19.291, 5.4.251, 5.10.188, 5.15.150, 6.1.83 or 6.4.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch f45b2fa7678ab385299de345f7e85d05caea386b/00ecb6fa67c0f772290c5ea5ae8b46eefd503b83/d0345f7c7dbc5d42e4e6f1db99c1c1879d7b0eb5/634daf6b2c81015cc5e28bf694a6a94a50c641cd/84a578961b2566e475bfa8740beaf0abcc781a6f/1d467e10507167eb6dc2c281a87675b731955d86/fbf50184190d55f8717bd29aa9530c399be96f30/010444623e7f4da6b4a4dd603a7da7469981e293 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (302405) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2053). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

  • Debian Linux
  • Amazon Linux 2
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  • Ubuntu Linux
  • SUSE Linux
  • Oracle Linux
  • IBM QRadar SIEM
  • SUSE openSUSE
  • Open Source Linux Kernel
  • RESF Rocky Linux
  • Dell Secure Connect Gateway
  • F5 F5OS

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

Version

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.1
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.0

VulDB Base Score: 4.8
VulDB Temp Score: 4.6
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 5.5
NVD Vector: 🔒

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Memory leak
CWE: CWE-401 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Nessus ID: 302405
Nessus Name: EulerOS 2.0 SP10 : kernel (EulerOS-SA-2026-1313)

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 4.14.322/4.19.291/5.4.251/5.10.188/5.15.150/6.1.83/6.4.7
Patch: f45b2fa7678ab385299de345f7e85d05caea386b/00ecb6fa67c0f772290c5ea5ae8b46eefd503b83/d0345f7c7dbc5d42e4e6f1db99c1c1879d7b0eb5/634daf6b2c81015cc5e28bf694a6a94a50c641cd/84a578961b2566e475bfa8740beaf0abcc781a6f/1d467e10507167eb6dc2c281a87675b731955d86/fbf50184190d55f8717bd29aa9530c399be96f30/010444623e7f4da6b4a4dd603a7da7469981e293

Timelineinfo

05/02/2025 CVE reserved
09/15/2025 +136 days Advisory disclosed
09/15/2025 +0 days VulDB entry created
03/16/2026 +182 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2023-53151 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2023-53151
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-323939
CERT Bund: WID-SEC-2025-2053 - Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Entryinfo

Created: 09/15/2025 16:40
Updated: 03/16/2026 21:17
Changes: 09/15/2025 16:40 (59), 11/24/2025 22:09 (12), 12/28/2025 22:33 (7), 01/10/2026 18:58 (1), 03/16/2026 21:17 (2)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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