CVE-2023-53706
- Published: 2025-10-22T14:15:45.197
- Last modified: 1761167568
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm/vmemmap/devdax: fix kernel crash when probing devdax devices
commit 4917f55b4ef9 (“mm/sparse-vmemmap: improve memory savings for
compound devmaps”) added support for using optimized vmmemap for devdax
devices. But how vmemmap mappings are created are architecture specific.
For example, powerpc with hash translation doesn’t have vmemmap mappings
in init_mm page table instead they are bolted table entries in the
hardware page table
vmemmap_populate_compound_pages() used by vmemmap optimization code is not
aware of these architecture-specific mapping. Hence allow architecture to
opt for this feature. I selected architectures supporting
HUGETLB_PAGE_OPTIMIZE_VMEMMAP option as also supporting this feature.
This patch fixes the below crash on ppc64.
BUG: Unable to handle kernel data access on write at 0xc00c000100400038
Faulting instruction address: 0xc000000001269d90
Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA pSeries
Modules linked in:
CPU: 7 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.3.0-rc5-150500.34-default+ #2 5c90a668b6bbd142599890245c2fb5de19d7d28a
Hardware name: IBM,9009-42G POWER9 (raw) 0x4e0202 0xf000005 of:IBM,FW950.40 (VL950_099) hv:phyp pSeries
NIP: c000000001269d90 LR: c0000000004c57d4 CTR: 0000000000000000
REGS: c000000003632c30 TRAP: 0300 Not tainted (6.3.0-rc5-150500.34-default+)
MSR: 8000000000009033 CR: 24842228 XER: 00000000
CFAR: c0000000004c57d0 DAR: c00c000100400038 DSISR: 42000000 IRQMASK: 0
….
NIP [c000000001269d90] __init_single_page.isra.74+0x14/0x4c
LR [c0000000004c57d4] __init_zone_device_page+0x44/0xd0
Call Trace:
[c000000003632ed0] [c000000003632f60] 0xc000000003632f60 (unreliable)
[c000000003632f10] [c0000000004c5ca0] memmap_init_zone_device+0x170/0x250
[c000000003632fe0] [c0000000005575f8] memremap_pages+0x2c8/0x7f0
[c0000000036330c0] [c000000000557b5c] devm_memremap_pages+0x3c/0xa0
[c000000003633100] [c000000000d458a8] dev_dax_probe+0x108/0x3e0
[c0000000036331a0] [c000000000d41430] dax_bus_probe+0xb0/0x140
[c0000000036331d0] [c000000000cef27c] really_probe+0x19c/0x520
[c000000003633260] [c000000000cef6b4] __driver_probe_device+0xb4/0x230
[c0000000036332e0] [c000000000cef888] driver_probe_device+0x58/0x120
[c000000003633320] [c000000000cefa6c] __device_attach_driver+0x11c/0x1e0
[c0000000036333a0] [c000000000cebc58] bus_for_each_drv+0xa8/0x130
[c000000003633400] [c000000000ceefcc] __device_attach+0x15c/0x250
[c0000000036334a0] [c000000000ced458] bus_probe_device+0x108/0x110
[c0000000036334f0] [c000000000ce92dc] device_add+0x7fc/0xa10
[c0000000036335b0] [c000000000d447c8] devm_create_dev_dax+0x1d8/0x530
[c000000003633640] [c000000000d46b60] __dax_pmem_probe+0x200/0x270
[c0000000036337b0] [c000000000d46bf0] dax_pmem_probe+0x20/0x70
[c0000000036337d0] [c000000000d2279c] nvdimm_bus_probe+0xac/0x2b0
[c000000003633860] [c000000000cef27c] really_probe+0x19c/0x520
[c0000000036338f0] [c000000000cef6b4] __driver_probe_device+0xb4/0x230
[c000000003633970] [c000000000cef888] driver_probe_device+0x58/0x120
[c0000000036339b0] [c000000000cefd08] __driver_attach+0x1d8/0x240
[c000000003633a30] [c000000000cebb04] bus_for_each_dev+0xb4/0x130
[c000000003633a90] [c000000000cee564] driver_attach+0x34/0x50
[c000000003633ab0] [c000000000ced878] bus_add_driver+0x218/0x300
[c000000003633b40] [c000000000cf1144] driver_register+0xa4/0x1b0
[c000000003633bb0] [c000000000d21a0c] __nd_driver_register+0x5c/0x100
[c000000003633c10] [c00000000206a2e8] dax_pmem_init+0x34/0x48
[c000000003633c30] [c0000000000132d0] do_one_initcall+0x60/0x320
[c000000003633d00] [c0000000020051b0] kernel_init_freeable+0x360/0x400
[c000000003633de0] [c000000000013764] kernel_init+0x34/0x1d0
[c000000003633e50] [c00000000000de14] ret_from_kernel_thread+0x5c/0x64
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How to fix CVE-2023-53706
Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/vmemmap/devdax: fix kernel crash when probing devdax devices commit 4917f55b4ef9 (“mm/sparse-vmemmap: improve memory savings for compound devmaps”) added support for using optimized vmmemap for devdax devices. But how vmemmap mappings are created are architecture specific. For example, powerpc with hash translation doesn’t have vmemmap mappings […]
Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public
How to Fix:
- Check if you're running the affected product
- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access
- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)
- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations
Exploit Difficulty Assessment
Vulnerability Timeline
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