Linux Kernel up to 5.15.131/6.1.52/6.4.15/6.5.2 spinlock_rt.c call_rcu deadlock

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.131/6.1.52/6.4.15/6.5.2. It has been declared as critical. Affected is the function call_rcu of the file kernel/locking/spinlock_rt.c. Executing a manipulation can lead to deadlock. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2023-54113. No exploit is available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.131/6.1.52/6.4.15/6.5.2 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function call_rcu of the file kernel/locking/spinlock_rt.c. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a deadlock vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-833. The product contains multiple threads or executable segments that are waiting for each other to release a necessary lock, resulting in deadlock. As an impact it is known to affect availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rcu: dump vmalloc memory info safely Currently, for double invoke call_rcu(), will dump rcu_head objects memory info, if the objects is not allocated from the slab allocator, the vmalloc_dump_obj() will be invoke and the vmap_area_lock spinlock need to be held, since the call_rcu() can be invoked in interrupt context, therefore, there is a possibility of spinlock deadlock scenarios. And in Preempt-RT kernel, the rcutorture test also trigger the following lockdep warning: BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/spinlock_rt.c:48 in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 1, non_block: 0, pid: 1, name: swapper/0 preempt_count: 1, expected: 0 RCU nest depth: 1, expected: 1 3 locks held by swapper/0/1: #0: ffffffffb534ee80 (fullstop_mutex){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: torture_init_begin+0x24/0xa0 #1: ffffffffb5307940 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: rcu_torture_init+0x1ec7/0x2370 #2: ffffffffb536af40 (vmap_area_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: find_vmap_area+0x1f/0x70 irq event stamp: 565512 hardirqs last enabled at (565511): [<ffffffffb379b138>] __call_rcu_common+0x218/0x940 hardirqs last disabled at (565512): [<ffffffffb5804262>] rcu_torture_init+0x20b2/0x2370 softirqs last enabled at (399112): [<ffffffffb36b2586>] __local_bh_enable_ip+0x126/0x170 softirqs last disabled at (399106): [<ffffffffb43fef59>] inet_register_protosw+0x9/0x1d0 Preemption disabled at: [<ffffffffb58040c3>] rcu_torture_init+0x1f13/0x2370 CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: G W 6.5.0-rc4-rt2-yocto-preempt-rt+ #15 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.16.2-0-gea1b7a073390-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0xb0 dump_stack+0x14/0x20 __might_resched+0x1aa/0x280 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_err_cb+0x10/0x10 rt_spin_lock+0x53/0x130 ? find_vmap_area+0x1f/0x70 find_vmap_area+0x1f/0x70 vmalloc_dump_obj+0x20/0x60 mem_dump_obj+0x22/0x90 __call_rcu_common+0x5bf/0x940 ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x1b/0x30 call_rcu_hurry+0x14/0x20 rcu_torture_init+0x1f82/0x2370 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_leak_cb+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_leak_cb+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_init+0x10/0x10 do_one_initcall+0x6c/0x300 ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x1b/0x30 kernel_init_freeable+0x2b9/0x540 ? __pfx_kernel_init+0x10/0x10 kernel_init+0x1f/0x150 ret_from_fork+0x40/0x50 ? __pfx_kernel_init+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1b/0x30 </TASK> The previous patch fixes this by using the deadlock-safe best-effort version of find_vm_area. However, in case of failure print the fact that the pointer was a vmalloc pointer so that we print at least something.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2023-54113 since 12/24/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279740 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-54113), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.15.132, 6.1.53, 6.4.16 or 6.5.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 0a22f9c17b1aa2a35b5eedee928f7841595b55cd/3f7a4e88e40e38c0b16a4bcb599b7b1d8c81440d/dddca4c46ec92f83449bc91dd199f46a89e066be/8fb1601ec0a2c4c34fc2170af767e5c2a6400573/c83ad36a18c02c0f51280b50272327807916987f 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 (279740) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2929). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 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

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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv4info

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CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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Entryinfo

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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