Linux Kernel up to 6.4.7 iommufd iommufd_ref_to_users deserialization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as critical has been discovered in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.7. Affected by this vulnerability is the function iommufd_ref_to_users of the component iommufd. Executing a manipulation can lead to deserialization. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2023-53795. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.7. This vulnerability affects the function iommufd_ref_to_users of the component iommufd. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a deserialization vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-502. The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently verifying that the resulting data will be valid. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iommufd: IOMMUFD_DESTROY should not increase the refcount syzkaller found a race where IOMMUFD_DESTROY increments the refcount: obj = iommufd_get_object(ucmd->ictx, cmd->id, IOMMUFD_OBJ_ANY); if (IS_ERR(obj)) return PTR_ERR(obj); iommufd_ref_to_users(obj); /* See iommufd_ref_to_users() */ if (!iommufd_object_destroy_user(ucmd->ictx, obj)) As part of the sequence to join the two existing primitives together. Allowing the refcount the be elevated without holding the destroy_rwsem violates the assumption that all temporary refcount elevations are protected by destroy_rwsem. Racing IOMMUFD_DESTROY with iommufd_object_destroy_user() will cause spurious failures: WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 3076 at drivers/iommu/iommufd/device.c:477 iommufd_access_destroy+0x18/0x20 drivers/iommu/iommufd/device.c:478 Modules linked in: CPU: 0 PID: 3076 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.3.0-rc1-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/03/2023 RIP: 0010:iommufd_access_destroy+0x18/0x20 drivers/iommu/iommufd/device.c:477 Code: e8 3d 4e 00 00 84 c0 74 01 c3 0f 0b c3 0f 1f 44 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 fe 48 8b bf a8 00 00 00 e8 1d 4e 00 00 84 c0 74 01 c3 <0f> 0b c3 0f 1f 44 00 00 41 57 41 56 41 55 4c 8d ae d0 00 00 00 41 RSP: 0018:ffffc90003067e08 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff888109ea0300 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 00000000ffffffff RBP: 0000000000000004 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffff88810bbb3500 R10: ffff88810bbb3e48 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffffc90003067e88 R13: ffffc90003067ea8 R14: ffff888101249800 R15: 00000000fffffffe FS: 00007ff7254fe6c0(0000) GS:ffff888237c00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000555557262da8 CR3: 000000010a6fd000 CR4: 0000000000350ef0 Call Trace: <TASK> iommufd_test_create_access drivers/iommu/iommufd/selftest.c:596 [inline] iommufd_test+0x71c/0xcf0 drivers/iommu/iommufd/selftest.c:813 iommufd_fops_ioctl+0x10f/0x1b0 drivers/iommu/iommufd/main.c:337 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:856 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x84/0xc0 fs/ioctl.c:856 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x38/0x80 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd The solution is to not increment the refcount on the IOMMUFD_DESTROY path at all. Instead use the xa_lock to serialize everything. The refcount check == 1 and xa_erase can be done under a single critical region. This avoids the need for any refcount incrementing. It has the downside that if userspace races destroy with other operations it will get an EBUSY instead of waiting, but this is kind of racing is already dangerous.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2023-53795 since 12/09/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 03/29/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 278096 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53795), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.4.8 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 495b327435b0298e9b3b434f5834d459a93673ce/99f98a7c0d6985d5507c8130a981972e4b7b3bdc 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 (278096) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2765). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux

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
• 6.4.7

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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Entryinfo

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