Linux Kernel up to 6.4.6 kernel/locking/mutex.c blk_mq_flush_plug_list stack-based overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.6. This vulnerability affects the function blk_mq_flush_plug_list of the file kernel/locking/mutex.c. The manipulation results in stack-based overflow. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2023-53231. There is not any exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.6. It has been classified as critical. Affected is the function blk_mq_flush_plug_list of the file kernel/locking/mutex.c. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a stack-based overflow vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-121. A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function). This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: erofs: Fix detection of atomic context Current check for atomic context is not sufficient as z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio can be called under rcu lock from blk_mq_flush_plug_list(). See the stacktrace [1] In such case we should hand off the decompression work for async processing rather than trying to do sync decompression in current context. Patch fixes the detection by checking for rcu_read_lock_any_held() and while at it use more appropriate !in_task() check than in_atomic(). Background: Historically erofs would always schedule a kworker for decompression which would incur the scheduling cost regardless of the context. But z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio() may not always be in atomic context and we could actually benefit from doing the decompression in z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio() if we are in thread context, for example when running with dm-verity. This optimization was later added in patch [2] which has shown improvement in performance benchmarks. ============================================== [1] Problem stacktrace [name:core&]BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:291 [name:core&]in_atomic(): 0, irqs_disabled(): 0, non_block: 0, pid: 1615, name: CpuMonitorServi [name:core&]preempt_count: 0, expected: 0 [name:core&]RCU nest depth: 1, expected: 0 CPU: 7 PID: 1615 Comm: CpuMonitorServi Tainted: G S W OE 6.1.25-android14-5-maybe-dirty-mainline #1 Hardware name: MT6897 (DT) Call trace: dump_backtrace+0x108/0x15c show_stack+0x20/0x30 dump_stack_lvl+0x6c/0x8c dump_stack+0x20/0x48 __might_resched+0x1fc/0x308 __might_sleep+0x50/0x88 mutex_lock+0x2c/0x110 z_erofs_decompress_queue+0x11c/0xc10 z_erofs_decompress_kickoff+0x110/0x1a4 z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio+0x154/0x180 bio_endio+0x1b0/0x1d8 __dm_io_complete+0x22c/0x280 clone_endio+0xe4/0x280 bio_endio+0x1b0/0x1d8 blk_update_request+0x138/0x3a4 blk_mq_plug_issue_direct+0xd4/0x19c blk_mq_flush_plug_list+0x2b0/0x354 __blk_flush_plug+0x110/0x160 blk_finish_plug+0x30/0x4c read_pages+0x2fc/0x370 page_cache_ra_unbounded+0xa4/0x23c page_cache_ra_order+0x290/0x320 do_sync_mmap_readahead+0x108/0x2c0 filemap_fault+0x19c/0x52c __do_fault+0xc4/0x114 handle_mm_fault+0x5b4/0x1168 do_page_fault+0x338/0x4b4 do_translation_fault+0x40/0x60 do_mem_abort+0x60/0xc8 el0_da+0x4c/0xe0 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xd4/0xfc el0t_64_sync+0x1a0/0x1a4 [2] Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/[email protected]/

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2023-53231 since 09/15/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $5k-$25k (estimation calculated on 01/11/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.4.7 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 597fb60c75132719687e173b75cab8f6eb1ca657/12d0a24afd9ea58e581ea64d64e066f2027b28d9 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 vulnerability database at CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2053). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

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

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.4.0
• 6.4.1
• 6.4.2
• 6.4.3
• 6.4.4
• 6.4.5
• 6.4.6

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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Entryinfo

VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

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