Linux Kernel up to 6.3.4 zsmalloc zs_map_object denial of service

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.3.4. This vulnerability affects the function zs_map_object of the component zsmalloc. Such manipulation leads to denial of service. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2023-54165. There is no available exploit. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.3.4. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is the function zs_map_object of the component zsmalloc. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a denial of service vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-404. The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: zsmalloc: move LRU update from zs_map_object() to zs_malloc() Under memory pressure, we sometimes observe the following crash: [ 5694.832838] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 5694.842093] list_del corruption, ffff888014b6a448->next is LIST_POISON1 (dead000000000100) [ 5694.858677] WARNING: CPU: 33 PID: 418824 at lib/list_debug.c:47 __list_del_entry_valid+0x42/0x80 [ 5694.961820] CPU: 33 PID: 418824 Comm: fuse_counters.s Kdump: loaded Tainted: G S 5.19.0-0_fbk3_rc3_hoangnhatpzsdynshrv41_10870_g85a9558a25de #1 [ 5694.990194] Hardware name: Wiwynn Twin Lakes MP/Twin Lakes Passive MP, BIOS YMM16 05/24/2021 [ 5695.007072] RIP: 0010:__list_del_entry_valid+0x42/0x80 [ 5695.017351] Code: 08 48 83 c2 22 48 39 d0 74 24 48 8b 10 48 39 f2 75 2c 48 8b 51 08 b0 01 48 39 f2 75 34 c3 48 c7 c7 55 d7 78 82 e8 4e 45 3b 00 <0f> 0b eb 31 48 c7 c7 27 a8 70 82 e8 3e 45 3b 00 0f 0b eb 21 48 c7 [ 5695.054919] RSP: 0018:ffffc90027aef4f0 EFLAGS: 00010246 [ 5695.065366] RAX: 41fe484987275300 RBX: ffff888008988180 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 5695.079636] RDX: ffff88886006c280 RSI: ffff888860060480 RDI: ffff888860060480 [ 5695.093904] RBP: 0000000000000002 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffc90027aef370 [ 5695.108175] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: ffffffff82fdf1c0 R12: 0000000010000002 [ 5695.122447] R13: ffff888014b6a448 R14: ffff888014b6a420 R15: 00000000138dc240 [ 5695.136717] FS: 00007f23a7d3f740(0000) GS:ffff888860040000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 5695.152899] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 5695.164388] CR2: 0000560ceaab6ac0 CR3: 000000001c06c001 CR4: 00000000007706e0 [ 5695.178659] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 5695.192927] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [ 5695.207197] PKRU: 55555554 [ 5695.212602] Call Trace: [ 5695.217486] <TASK> [ 5695.221674] zs_map_object+0x91/0x270 [ 5695.229000] zswap_frontswap_store+0x33d/0x870 [ 5695.237885] ? do_raw_spin_lock+0x5d/0xa0 [ 5695.245899] __frontswap_store+0x51/0xb0 [ 5695.253742] swap_writepage+0x3c/0x60 [ 5695.261063] shrink_page_list+0x738/0x1230 [ 5695.269255] shrink_lruvec+0x5ec/0xcd0 [ 5695.276749] ? shrink_slab+0x187/0x5f0 [ 5695.284240] ? mem_cgroup_iter+0x6e/0x120 [ 5695.292255] shrink_node+0x293/0x7b0 [ 5695.299402] do_try_to_free_pages+0xea/0x550 [ 5695.307940] try_to_free_pages+0x19a/0x490 [ 5695.316126] __folio_alloc+0x19ff/0x3e40 [ 5695.323971] ? __filemap_get_folio+0x8a/0x4e0 [ 5695.332681] ? walk_component+0x2a8/0xb50 [ 5695.340697] ? generic_permission+0xda/0x2a0 [ 5695.349231] ? __filemap_get_folio+0x8a/0x4e0 [ 5695.357940] ? walk_component+0x2a8/0xb50 [ 5695.365955] vma_alloc_folio+0x10e/0x570 [ 5695.373796] ? walk_component+0x52/0xb50 [ 5695.381634] wp_page_copy+0x38c/0xc10 [ 5695.388953] ? filename_lookup+0x378/0xbc0 [ 5695.397140] handle_mm_fault+0x87f/0x1800 [ 5695.405157] do_user_addr_fault+0x1bd/0x570 [ 5695.413520] exc_page_fault+0x5d/0x110 [ 5695.421017] asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30 After some investigation, I have found the following issue: unlike other zswap backends, zsmalloc performs the LRU list update at the object mapping time, rather than when the slot for the object is allocated. This deviation was discussed and agreed upon during the review process of the zsmalloc writeback patch series: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/[email protected]/ Unfortunately, this introduces a subtle bug that occurs when there is a concurrent store and reclaim, which interleave as follows: zswap_frontswap_store() shrink_worker() zs_malloc() zs_zpool_shrink() spin_lock(&pool->lock) zs_reclaim_page() zspage = find_get_zspage() spin_unlock(&pool->lock) spin_lock(&pool->lock) zspage = list_first_entry(&pool->lru) ---truncated---

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2023-54165 since 12/30/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

Upgrading to version 6.3.5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch e95adf7486f2cb5f1bb303113ca30460951923e9/d461aac924b937bcb4fd0ca1242b3ef6868ecddd 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.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.3.0
• 6.3.1
• 6.3.2
• 6.3.3
• 6.3.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

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