Linux Kernel up to 6.5.2 init_waitqueue_head memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.194/5.15.131/6.1.52/6.4.15/6.5.2. It has been classified as critical. This affects the function init_waitqueue_head. The manipulation leads to memory corruption. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2023-54316. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.10.194/5.15.131/6.1.52/6.4.15/6.5.2 and classified as critical. This issue affects the function init_waitqueue_head. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: refscale: Fix uninitalized use of wait_queue_head_t Running the refscale test occasionally crashes the kernel with the following error: [ 8569.952896] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffffffffffffe8 [ 8569.952900] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 8569.952902] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 8569.952904] PGD c4b048067 P4D c4b049067 PUD c4b04b067 PMD 0 [ 8569.952910] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT_RT SMP NOPTI [ 8569.952916] Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R750/0WMWCR, BIOS 1.2.4 05/28/2021 [ 8569.952917] RIP: 0010:prepare_to_wait_event+0x101/0x190 : [ 8569.952940] Call Trace: [ 8569.952941] <TASK> [ 8569.952944] ref_scale_reader+0x380/0x4a0 [refscale] [ 8569.952959] kthread+0x10e/0x130 [ 8569.952966] ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 [ 8569.952973] </TASK> The likely cause is that init_waitqueue_head() is called after the call to the torture_create_kthread() function that creates the ref_scale_reader kthread. Although this init_waitqueue_head() call will very likely complete before this kthread is created and starts running, it is possible that the calling kthread will be delayed between the calls to torture_create_kthread() and init_waitqueue_head(). In this case, the new kthread will use the waitqueue head before it is properly initialized, which is not good for the kernel's health and well-being. The above crash happened here: static inline void __add_wait_queue(...) { : if (!(wq->flags & WQ_FLAG_PRIORITY)) <=== Crash here The offset of flags from list_head entry in wait_queue_entry is -0x18. If reader_tasks[i].wq.head.next is NULL as allocated reader_task structure is zero initialized, the instruction will try to access address 0xffffffffffffffe8, which is exactly the fault address listed above. This commit therefore invokes init_waitqueue_head() before creating the kthread.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-54316 since 12/30/2025. 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 $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/01/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 281525 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-54316), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.10.195, 5.15.132, 6.1.53, 6.4.16 or 6.5.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 066fbd8bc981cf49923bf828b7b4092894df577f/ec9d118ad99dc6f1bc674c1e649c25533d89b9ba/e0322a255a2242dbe4686b6176b3c83dea490529/e5de968a9032366198720eac4f368ed7e690b3ef/70a2856fd1d0a040c876ba9e3f89b949ae92e4dd/f5063e8948dad7f31adb007284a5d5038ae31bb8 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 (281525) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2941). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 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

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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