Linux Kernel up to 6.3.1 /sys/kernel/tracing/ __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick stack-based overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.179/5.15.110/6.1.27/6.2.14/6.3.1. The impacted element is the function __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick of the file /sys/kernel/tracing/. The manipulation leads to stack-based overflow. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2023-53655. No exploit is available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.179/5.15.110/6.1.27/6.2.14/6.3.1. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects the function __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick of the file /sys/kernel/tracing/. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a stack-based overflow vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to 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). Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rcu: Avoid stack overflow due to __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick() being kprobe-ed Registering a kprobe on __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick() can cause kernel stack overflow as shown below. This issue can be reproduced by enabling CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL and booting the kernel with argument "nohz_full=", and then giving the following commands at the shell prompt: # cd /sys/kernel/tracing/ # echo 'p:mp1 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick' >> kprobe_events # echo 1 > events/kprobes/enable This commit therefore adds __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick() to the kprobes blacklist using NOKPROBE_SYMBOL(). Insufficient stack space to handle exception! ESR: 0x00000000f2000004 -- BRK (AArch64) FAR: 0x0000ffffccf3e510 Task stack: [0xffff80000ad30000..0xffff80000ad38000] IRQ stack: [0xffff800008050000..0xffff800008058000] Overflow stack: [0xffff089c36f9f310..0xffff089c36fa0310] CPU: 5 PID: 190 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-00320-g1f5abbd77e2c #19 Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) pstate: 400003c5 (nZcv DAIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 lr : ct_nmi_enter+0x11c/0x138 sp : ffff80000ad30080 x29: ffff80000ad30080 x28: ffff089c82e20000 x27: 0000000000000000 x26: 0000000000000000 x25: ffff089c02a8d100 x24: 0000000000000000 x23: 00000000400003c5 x22: 0000ffffccf3e510 x21: ffff089c36fae148 x20: ffff80000ad30120 x19: ffffa8da8fcce148 x18: 0000000000000000 x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: ffffa8da8e44ea6c x14: ffffa8da8e44e968 x13: ffffa8da8e03136c x12: 1fffe113804d6809 x11: ffff6113804d6809 x10: 0000000000000a60 x9 : dfff800000000000 x8 : ffff089c026b404f x7 : 00009eec7fb297f7 x6 : 0000000000000001 x5 : ffff80000ad30120 x4 : dfff800000000000 x3 : ffffa8da8e3016f4 x2 : 0000000000000003 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 Kernel panic - not syncing: kernel stack overflow CPU: 5 PID: 190 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-00320-g1f5abbd77e2c #19 Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) Call trace: dump_backtrace+0xf8/0x108 show_stack+0x20/0x30 dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0x84 dump_stack+0x1c/0x38 panic+0x214/0x404 add_taint+0x0/0xf8 panic_bad_stack+0x144/0x160 handle_bad_stack+0x38/0x58 __bad_stack+0x78/0x7c __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 [...] el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8 el1_interrupt+0x28/0x60 el1h_64_irq_handler+0x18/0x28 el1h_64_irq+0x64/0x68 __ftrace_set_clr_event_nolock+0x98/0x198 __ftrace_set_clr_event+0x58/0x80 system_enable_write+0x144/0x178 vfs_write+0x174/0x738 ksys_write+0xd0/0x188 __arm64_sys_write+0x4c/0x60 invoke_syscall+0x64/0x180 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x84/0x160 do_el0_svc+0x48/0xe8 el0_svc+0x34/0xd0 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xb8/0xc0 el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 SMP: stopping secondary CPUs Kernel Offset: 0x28da86000000 from 0xffff800008000000 PHYS_OFFSET: 0xfffff76600000000 CPU features: 0x00000,01a00100,0000421b Memory Limit: none

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-53655 since 10/07/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 03/01/2026).

Upgrading to version 5.10.180, 5.15.111, 6.1.28, 6.2.15 or 6.3.2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch eb18bc5a8678f431c500e6da1b8b5f34478d5bc1/4c3d1a6720aefb02403ddfebe85db521d3af2c3b/c8a3341b339285495cf7c8d061d659465f2311e0/93b6295f677d96b73cfcb703532f6c7369a60d96/7b5a97333e920b69356e097f185bdc51d61e66ee/7a29fb4a4771124bc61de397dbfc1554dbbcc19c 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-2025-2229). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

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

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.179
• 5.15.110
• 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
• 6.2.0
• 6.2.1
• 6.2.2
• 6.2.3
• 6.2.4
• 6.2.5
• 6.2.6
• 6.2.7
• 6.2.8
• 6.2.9
• 6.2.10
• 6.2.11
• 6.2.12
• 6.2.13
• 6.2.14
• 6.3.0
• 6.3.1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Discussion