ghsa-r233-79v5-5734
Vulnerability from github
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ring-buffer: Fix deadloop issue on reading trace_pipe
Soft lockup occurs when reading file 'trace_pipe':
watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#6 stuck for 22s! [cat:4488] [...] RIP: 0010:ring_buffer_empty_cpu+0xed/0x170 RSP: 0018:ffff88810dd6fc48 EFLAGS: 00000246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000246 RCX: ffffffff93d1aaeb RDX: ffff88810a280040 RSI: 0000000000000008 RDI: ffff88811164b218 RBP: ffff88811164b218 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffff88815156600f R10: ffffed102a2acc01 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: 0000000051651901 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff888115e49500 R15: 0000000000000000 [...] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f8d853c2000 CR3: 000000010dcd8000 CR4: 00000000000006e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: __find_next_entry+0x1a8/0x4b0 ? peek_next_entry+0x250/0x250 ? down_write+0xa5/0x120 ? down_write_killable+0x130/0x130 trace_find_next_entry_inc+0x3b/0x1d0 tracing_read_pipe+0x423/0xae0 ? tracing_splice_read_pipe+0xcb0/0xcb0 vfs_read+0x16b/0x490 ksys_read+0x105/0x210 ? __ia32_sys_pwrite64+0x200/0x200 ? switch_fpu_return+0x108/0x220 do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x61/0xc6
Through the vmcore, I found it's because in tracing_read_pipe(), ring_buffer_empty_cpu() found some buffer is not empty but then it cannot read anything due to "rb_num_of_entries() == 0" always true, Then it infinitely loop the procedure due to user buffer not been filled, see following code path:
tracing_read_pipe() { ... ... waitagain: tracing_wait_pipe() // 1. find non-empty buffer here trace_find_next_entry_inc() // 2. loop here try to find an entry __find_next_entry() ring_buffer_empty_cpu(); // 3. find non-empty buffer peek_next_entry() // 4. but peek always return NULL ring_buffer_peek() rb_buffer_peek() rb_get_reader_page() // 5. because rb_num_of_entries() == 0 always true here // then return NULL // 6. user buffer not been filled so goto 'waitgain' // and eventually leads to an deadloop in kernel!!! }
By some analyzing, I found that when resetting ringbuffer, the 'entries' of its pages are not all cleared (see rb_reset_cpu()). Then when reducing the ringbuffer, and if some reduced pages exist dirty 'entries' data, they will be added into 'cpu_buffer->overrun' (see rb_remove_pages()), which cause wrong 'overrun' count and eventually cause the deadloop issue.
To fix it, we need to clear every pages in rb_reset_cpu().
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2023-53668"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2025-10-07T16:15:50Z",
"severity": null
},
"details": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nring-buffer: Fix deadloop issue on reading trace_pipe\n\nSoft lockup occurs when reading file \u0027trace_pipe\u0027:\n\n watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#6 stuck for 22s! [cat:4488]\n [...]\n RIP: 0010:ring_buffer_empty_cpu+0xed/0x170\n RSP: 0018:ffff88810dd6fc48 EFLAGS: 00000246\n RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000246 RCX: ffffffff93d1aaeb\n RDX: ffff88810a280040 RSI: 0000000000000008 RDI: ffff88811164b218\n RBP: ffff88811164b218 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffff88815156600f\n R10: ffffed102a2acc01 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: 0000000051651901\n R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff888115e49500 R15: 0000000000000000\n [...]\n CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033\n CR2: 00007f8d853c2000 CR3: 000000010dcd8000 CR4: 00000000000006e0\n DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000\n DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400\n Call Trace:\n __find_next_entry+0x1a8/0x4b0\n ? peek_next_entry+0x250/0x250\n ? down_write+0xa5/0x120\n ? down_write_killable+0x130/0x130\n trace_find_next_entry_inc+0x3b/0x1d0\n tracing_read_pipe+0x423/0xae0\n ? tracing_splice_read_pipe+0xcb0/0xcb0\n vfs_read+0x16b/0x490\n ksys_read+0x105/0x210\n ? __ia32_sys_pwrite64+0x200/0x200\n ? switch_fpu_return+0x108/0x220\n do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40\n entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x61/0xc6\n\nThrough the vmcore, I found it\u0027s because in tracing_read_pipe(),\nring_buffer_empty_cpu() found some buffer is not empty but then it\ncannot read anything due to \"rb_num_of_entries() == 0\" always true,\nThen it infinitely loop the procedure due to user buffer not been\nfilled, see following code path:\n\n tracing_read_pipe() {\n ... ...\n waitagain:\n tracing_wait_pipe() // 1. find non-empty buffer here\n trace_find_next_entry_inc() // 2. loop here try to find an entry\n __find_next_entry()\n ring_buffer_empty_cpu(); // 3. find non-empty buffer\n peek_next_entry() // 4. but peek always return NULL\n ring_buffer_peek()\n rb_buffer_peek()\n rb_get_reader_page()\n // 5. because rb_num_of_entries() == 0 always true here\n // then return NULL\n // 6. user buffer not been filled so goto \u0027waitgain\u0027\n // and eventually leads to an deadloop in kernel!!!\n }\n\nBy some analyzing, I found that when resetting ringbuffer, the \u0027entries\u0027\nof its pages are not all cleared (see rb_reset_cpu()). Then when reducing\nthe ringbuffer, and if some reduced pages exist dirty \u0027entries\u0027 data, they\nwill be added into \u0027cpu_buffer-\u003eoverrun\u0027 (see rb_remove_pages()), which\ncause wrong \u0027overrun\u0027 count and eventually cause the deadloop issue.\n\nTo fix it, we need to clear every pages in rb_reset_cpu().",
"id": "GHSA-r233-79v5-5734",
"modified": "2025-10-07T18:31:10Z",
"published": "2025-10-07T18:31:10Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53668"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a29dae5786d263016a9aceb1e56bf3fd4cc6fa0"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/27bdd93e44cc28dd9b94893fae146b83d4f5b31e"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5e68f1f3a20fe9b6bde018e353269fbfa289609c"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e42907f3a7b4ce3a2d1757f6d78336984daf8f5"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8b0b63fdac6b70a45614e7d4b30e5bbb93deb007"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a55e8a3596048c2f7b574049aeb1885b5abba1cc"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bb14a93bccc92766b1d9302c6bcbea17d4bce306"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e84829522fc72bb43556b31575731de0440ac0dd"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": []
}
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or seen somewhere by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability is confirmed from an analyst perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: This vulnerability was exploited and seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Patched: This vulnerability was successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not exploited: This vulnerability was not exploited or seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expresses doubt about the veracity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: This vulnerability was not successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.