Linux Kernel up to 6.5.2 tracing ring_buffer.c rb_end_commit buffer overflow

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5.8	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.5.2. Affected by this vulnerability is the function rb_end_commit of the file kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c of the component tracing. The manipulation leads to buffer overflow. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2023-53368. There is not any exploit available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.5.2. This issue affects the function rb_end_commit of the file kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c of the component tracing. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a buffer overflow vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-120. The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer, leading to a buffer overflow. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

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.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-53368 since 09/17/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 12/27/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 265675 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53368), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.4.257, 5.10.195, 5.15.132, 6.1.53, 6.4.16 or 6.5.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 90e037cabc2c2dfc39b3dd9c5b22ea91f995539a/c5d30d6aa83d99fba8dfdd9cf6c4e4e7a63244db/6182318ac04648b46db9d441fd7d696337fcdd0b/74c85396bd73eca80b96510b4edf93b9a3aff75f/89c89da92a60028013f9539be0dcce7e44405a43/37ca1b686078b00cc4ffa008e2190615f7709b5d/3163f635b20e9e1fb4659e74f47918c9dddfe64e 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 (265675) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2087). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

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

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.4.256
• 5.10.194
• 5.15.131
• 6.1.0
• 6.1.1
• 6.1.2
• 6.1.3
• 6.1.4
• 6.1.5
• 6.1.6
• 6.1.7
• 6.1.8
• 6.1.9
• 6.1.10
• 6.1.11
• 6.1.12
• 6.1.13
• 6.1.14
• 6.1.15
• 6.1.16
• 6.1.17
• 6.1.18
• 6.1.19
• 6.1.20
• 6.1.21
• 6.1.22
• 6.1.23
• 6.1.24
• 6.1.25
• 6.1.26
• 6.1.27
• 6.1.28
• 6.1.29
• 6.1.30
• 6.1.31
• 6.1.32
• 6.1.33
• 6.1.34
• 6.1.35
• 6.1.36
• 6.1.37
• 6.1.38
• 6.1.39
• 6.1.40
• 6.1.41
• 6.1.42
• 6.1.43
• 6.1.44
• 6.1.45
• 6.1.46
• 6.1.47
• 6.1.48
• 6.1.49
• 6.1.50
• 6.1.51
• 6.1.52
• 6.4.0
• 6.4.1
• 6.4.2
• 6.4.3
• 6.4.4
• 6.4.5
• 6.4.6
• 6.4.7
• 6.4.8
• 6.4.9
• 6.4.10
• 6.4.11
• 6.4.12
• 6.4.13
• 6.4.14
• 6.4.15
• 6.5.0
• 6.5.1
• 6.5.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
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CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.8

VulDB Base Score: 7.1
VulDB Temp Score: 6.8
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 4.7
NVD Vector: 🔒

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Buffer overflow
CWE: CWE-120 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
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Nessus ID: 265675
Nessus Name: Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53368

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 5.4.257/5.10.195/5.15.132/6.1.53/6.4.16/6.5.3
Patch: 90e037cabc2c2dfc39b3dd9c5b22ea91f995539a/c5d30d6aa83d99fba8dfdd9cf6c4e4e7a63244db/6182318ac04648b46db9d441fd7d696337fcdd0b/74c85396bd73eca80b96510b4edf93b9a3aff75f/89c89da92a60028013f9539be0dcce7e44405a43/37ca1b686078b00cc4ffa008e2190615f7709b5d/3163f635b20e9e1fb4659e74f47918c9dddfe64e

Timelineinfo

09/17/2025 Advisory disclosed
09/17/2025 +0 days CVE reserved
09/17/2025 +0 days VulDB entry created
12/27/2025 +101 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2023-53368 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2023-53368
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-324731
CERT Bund: WID-SEC-2025-2087 - Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Entryinfo

Created: 09/17/2025 18:08
Updated: 12/27/2025 07:41
Changes: 09/17/2025 18:08 (60), 09/21/2025 03:21 (2), 12/11/2025 19:39 (11), 12/27/2025 07:41 (7)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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Discussion

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