Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.5.3. This issue affects the function bpf_sk_storage of the component bpf. The manipulation leads to allocation of resources. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2023-53857. No exploit is available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.5.3 and classified as critical. This issue affects the function bpf_sk_storage of the component bpf. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a allocation of resources vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-770. The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated, in violation of the intended security policy for that actor. The impact remains unknown. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: bpf_sk_storage: Fix invalid wait context lockdep report './test_progs -t test_local_storage' reported a splat: [ 27.137569] ============================= [ 27.138122] [ BUG: Invalid wait context ] [ 27.138650] 6.5.0-03980-gd11ae1b16b0a #247 Tainted: G O [ 27.139542] ----------------------------- [ 27.140106] test_progs/1729 is trying to lock: [ 27.140713] ffff8883ef047b88 (stock_lock){-.-.}-{3:3}, at: local_lock_acquire+0x9/0x130 [ 27.141834] other info that might help us debug this: [ 27.142437] context-{5:5} [ 27.142856] 2 locks held by test_progs/1729: [ 27.143352] #0: ffffffff84bcd9c0 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: rcu_lock_acquire+0x4/0x40 [ 27.144492] #1: ffff888107deb2c0 (&storage->lock){..-.}-{2:2}, at: bpf_local_storage_update+0x39e/0x8e0 [ 27.145855] stack backtrace: [ 27.146274] CPU: 0 PID: 1729 Comm: test_progs Tainted: G O 6.5.0-03980-gd11ae1b16b0a #247 [ 27.147550] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 27.149127] Call Trace: [ 27.149490] <TASK> [ 27.149867] dump_stack_lvl+0x130/0x1d0 [ 27.152609] dump_stack+0x14/0x20 [ 27.153131] __lock_acquire+0x1657/0x2220 [ 27.153677] lock_acquire+0x1b8/0x510 [ 27.157908] local_lock_acquire+0x29/0x130 [ 27.159048] obj_cgroup_charge+0xf4/0x3c0 [ 27.160794] slab_pre_alloc_hook+0x28e/0x2b0 [ 27.161931] __kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x51/0x210 [ 27.163557] __kmalloc+0xaa/0x210 [ 27.164593] bpf_map_kzalloc+0xbc/0x170 [ 27.165147] bpf_selem_alloc+0x130/0x510 [ 27.166295] bpf_local_storage_update+0x5aa/0x8e0 [ 27.167042] bpf_fd_sk_storage_update_elem+0xdb/0x1a0 [ 27.169199] bpf_map_update_value+0x415/0x4f0 [ 27.169871] map_update_elem+0x413/0x550 [ 27.170330] __sys_bpf+0x5e9/0x640 [ 27.174065] __x64_sys_bpf+0x80/0x90 [ 27.174568] do_syscall_64+0x48/0xa0 [ 27.175201] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8 [ 27.175932] RIP: 0033:0x7effb40e41ad [ 27.176357] Code: ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 90 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d8 [ 27.179028] RSP: 002b:00007ffe64c21fc8 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000141 [ 27.180088] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007ffe64c22768 RCX: 00007effb40e41ad [ 27.181082] RDX: 0000000000000020 RSI: 00007ffe64c22008 RDI: 0000000000000002 [ 27.182030] RBP: 00007ffe64c21ff0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 00007ffe64c22788 [ 27.183038] R10: 0000000000000064 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 0000000000000000 [ 27.184006] R13: 00007ffe64c22788 R14: 00007effb42a1000 R15: 0000000000000000 [ 27.184958] </TASK> It complains about acquiring a local_lock while holding a raw_spin_lock. It means it should not allocate memory while holding a raw_spin_lock since it is not safe for RT. raw_spin_lock is needed because bpf_local_storage supports tracing context. In particular for task local storage, it is easy to get a "current" task PTR_TO_BTF_ID in tracing bpf prog. However, task (and cgroup) local storage has already been moved to bpf mem allocator which can be used after raw_spin_lock. The splat is for the sk storage. For sk (and inode) storage, it has not been moved to bpf mem allocator. Using raw_spin_lock or not, kzalloc(GFP_ATOMIC) could theoretically be unsafe in tracing context. However, the local storage helper requires a verifier accepted sk pointer (PTR_TO_BTF_ID), it is hypothetical if that (mean running a bpf prog in a kzalloc unsafe context and also able to hold a verifier accepted sk pointer) could happen. This patch avoids kzalloc after raw_spin_lock to silent the splat. There is an existing kzalloc before the raw_spin_lock. At that point, a kzalloc is very likely required because a lookup has just been done before. Thus, this patch always does the kzalloc before acq ---truncated---

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-53857 since 12/09/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

Upgrading to version 6.5.4 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 300415caa373a07782fcbc2f8d9429bc2dc27a47/a96a44aba556c42b432929d37d60158aca21ad4c 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-2025-2765). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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

• 6.5.0
• 6.5.1
• 6.5.2
• 6.5.3

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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