CVE-2023-53623

Public on

Last Modified: UTC

Moderate Moderate Impact What does this mean?
5.7 CVSS v3 Base Score

Description

The MITRE CVE dictionary describes this issue as

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/swap: fix swap_info_struct race between swapoff and get_swap_pages() The si->lock must be held when deleting the si from the available list. Otherwise, another thread can re-add the si to the available list, which can lead to memory corruption. The only place we have found where this happens is in the swapoff path. This case can be described as below: core 0 core 1 swapoff del_from_avail_list(si) waiting try lock si->lock acquire swap_avail_lock and re-add si into swap_avail_head acquire si->lock but missing si already being added again, and continuing to clear SWP_WRITEOK, etc. It can be easily found that a massive warning messages can be triggered inside get_swap_pages() by some special cases, for example, we call madvise(MADV_PAGEOUT) on blocks of touched memory concurrently, meanwhile, run much swapon-swapoff operations (e.g. stress-ng-swap). However, in the worst case, panic can be caused by the above scene. In swapoff(), the memory used by si could be kept in swap_info[] after turning off a swap. This means memory corruption will not be caused immediately until allocated and reset for a new swap in the swapon path. A panic message caused: (with CONFIG_PLIST_DEBUG enabled) ------------[ cut here ]------------ top: 00000000e58a3003, n: 0000000013e75cda, p: 000000008cd4451a prev: 0000000035b1e58a, n: 000000008cd4451a, p: 000000002150ee8d next: 000000008cd4451a, n: 000000008cd4451a, p: 000000008cd4451a WARNING: CPU: 21 PID: 1843 at lib/plist.c:60 plist_check_prev_next_node+0x50/0x70 Modules linked in: rfkill(E) crct10dif_ce(E)... CPU: 21 PID: 1843 Comm: stress-ng Kdump: ... 5.10.134+ Hardware name: Alibaba Cloud ECS, BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015 pstate: 60400005 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO BTYPE=--) pc : plist_check_prev_next_node+0x50/0x70 lr : plist_check_prev_next_node+0x50/0x70 sp : ffff0018009d3c30 x29: ffff0018009d3c40 x28: ffff800011b32a98 x27: 0000000000000000 x26: ffff001803908000 x25: ffff8000128ea088 x24: ffff800011b32a48 x23: 0000000000000028 x22: ffff001800875c00 x21: ffff800010f9e520 x20: ffff001800875c00 x19: ffff001800fdc6e0 x18: 0000000000000030 x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0736076307640766 x14: 0730073007380731 x13: 0736076307640766 x12: 0730073007380731 x11: 000000000004058d x10: 0000000085a85b76 x9 : ffff8000101436e4 x8 : ffff800011c8ce08 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000001 x5 : ffff0017df9ed338 x4 : 0000000000000001 x3 : ffff8017ce62a000 x2 : ffff0017df9ed340 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 Call trace: plist_check_prev_next_node+0x50/0x70 plist_check_head+0x80/0xf0 plist_add+0x28/0x140 add_to_avail_list+0x9c/0xf0 _enable_swap_info+0x78/0xb4 __do_sys_swapon+0x918/0xa10 __arm64_sys_swapon+0x20/0x30 el0_svc_common+0x8c/0x220 do_el0_svc+0x2c/0x90 el0_svc+0x1c/0x30 el0_sync_handler+0xa8/0xb0 el0_sync+0x148/0x180 irq event stamp: 2082270 Now, si->lock locked before calling 'del_from_avail_list()' to make sure other thread see the si had been deleted and SWP_WRITEOK cleared together, will not reinsert again. This problem exists in versions after stable 5.10.y.

Statement

The patch fixes a race condition between swapoff() and get_swap_pages() in the memory management subsystem, where the swap_info structure could be reinserted into the available list after removal, leading to list corruption and kernel panic. This issue can be reproduced under heavy concurrent swap-on/swap-off and memory pressure operations, such as using tools like stress-ng --swap. It may result in severe memory corruption or system crash. For the CVSS the PR:H — because the bug requires local privileged access and deliberate manipulation of swap configuration.

Additional Information

External References

Content from www.cve.org is not included.https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53623

Content from nvd.nist.gov is not included.https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53623

Content from lore.kernel.org is not included.https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2025100710-CVE-2023-53623-2687@gregkh/T

Affected Packages and Issued Red Hat Security Errata

Products / Services Components State Errata
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 kernel Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel-rt Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 kernel-rt Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 kernel Fixed RHSA-2024:3138
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel Fixed RHSA-2023:6583
Unless explicitly stated as not affected, all previous versions of packages in any minor update stream of a product listed here should be assumed vulnerable, although may not have been subject to full analysis.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authorities (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications ).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown Red Hat NVD
CVSS v3 Base Score 5.7 4.7
Attack Vector Local Local
Attack Complexity High High
Privileges Required High Low
User Interaction None None
Scope Unchanged Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact None None
Integrity Impact High None
Availability Impact High High

CVSS v3 Vector

Red Hat CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

NVD CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Red Hat's CVSS v3 score or Impact different from other vendors?

 For open source software shipped by multiple vendors, the CVSS base scores may vary for each vendor's version depending on the version they ship, how they ship it, the platform, and even how the software is compiled. This makes scoring of vulnerabilities difficult for third-party vulnerability databases such as NVD that only provide a single CVSS base score for each vulnerability. Red Hat scores reflect how a vulnerability affects our products specifically.

For more information, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/762393.

My product is listed as "Under investigation" or "Affected", when will Red Hat release a fix for this vulnerability?
  • "Under investigation" doesn't necessarily mean that the product is affected by this vulnerability. It only means that our Analysis Team is still working on determining whether the product is affected and how it is affected.
  • "Affected" means that our Analysis Team has determined that this product is affected by this vulnerability and might release a fix to address this in the near future.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Will not fix"?

 A "will not fix" status means that a fix for an affected product version is not planned or not possible due to complexity, which may create additional risk.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Upgrade to a supported product version that includes a fix for this vulnerability (recommended).
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Fix deferred"?

 A deferred status means that a fix for an affected product version is not guaranteed due to higher-priority development work.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.
  • Red Hat Engineering focuses on addressing high-priority issues based on their complexity or limited lifecycle support. Therefore, lower-priority issues will not receive immediate fixes.

What is a mitigation?

 A mitigation is an action that can be taken to reduce the impact of a security vulnerability, without deploying any fixes.

I have a Red Hat product but it is not in the above list, is it affected?

 The listed products were found to include one or more of the components that this vulnerability affects. These products underwent a thorough evaluation to determine their affectedness by this vulnerability. Note that layered products (such as container-based offerings) that consume affected components from any of the products listed in this table may be affected and are not represented.

Why is my security scanner reporting my product as vulnerable to this vulnerability even though my product version is fixed or not affected?

 In order to maintain code stability and compatibility, Red Hat usually does not rebase packages to entirely new versions. Instead, we backport fixes and new features to an older version of the package we distribute. This can result in some security scanners that only consider the package version to report the package as vulnerable. To avoid this, we suggest that you use an approved vulnerability scanner from our This content is not included.Red Hat Vulnerability Scanner Certification program.

My product is listed as "Out of Support Scope". What does this mean?

 When a product is listed as "Out of Support Scope", it means a vulnerability with the impact level assigned to this CVE is no longer covered by its current support lifecycle phase. The product has been identified to contain the impacted component, but analysis to determine whether it is affected or not by this vulnerability was not performed. The product should be assumed to be affected. Customers are advised to apply any mitigation options documented on this page, consider removing or disabling the impacted component, or upgrade to a supported version of the product that has an update available.