CVE-2023-53709

  • Published: 2025-10-22T14:15:45.510
  • Last modified: 1761167568

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ring-buffer: Handle race between rb_move_tail and rb_check_pages

It seems a data race between ring_buffer writing and integrity check.
That is, RB_FLAG of head_page is been updating, while at same time
RB_FLAG was cleared when doing integrity check rb_check_pages():

rb_check_pages() rb_handle_head_page():
——– ——–
rb_head_page_deactivate()
rb_head_page_set_normal()
rb_head_page_activate()

We do intergrity test of the list to check if the list is corrupted and
it is still worth doing it. So, let’s refactor rb_check_pages() such that
we no longer clear and set flag during the list sanity checking.

[1] and [2] are the test to reproduce and the crash report respectively.

1:
“` read_trace.sh
while true;
do
# the “trace” file is closed after read
head -1 /sys/kernel/tracing/trace > /dev/null
done
“`
“` repro.sh
sysctl -w kernel.panic_on_warn=1
# function tracer will writing enough data into ring_buffer
echo function > /sys/kernel/tracing/current_tracer
./read_trace.sh &
./read_trace.sh &
./read_trace.sh &
./read_trace.sh &
./read_trace.sh &
./read_trace.sh &
./read_trace.sh &
./read_trace.sh &
“`

2:
————[ cut here ]————
WARNING: CPU: 9 PID: 62 at kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c:2653
rb_move_tail+0x450/0x470
Modules linked in:
CPU: 9 PID: 62 Comm: ksoftirqd/9 Tainted: G W 6.2.0-rc6+
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS
rel-1.15.0-0-g2dd4b9b3f840-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:rb_move_tail+0x450/0x470
Code: ff ff 4c 89 c8 f0 4d 0f b1 02 48 89 c2 48 83 e2 fc 49 39 d0 75 24
83 e0 03 83 f8 02 0f 84 e1 fb ff ff 48 8b 57 10 f0 ff 42 08 0b 83
f8 02 0f 84 ce fb ff ff e9 db
RSP: 0018:ffffb5564089bd00 EFLAGS: 00000203
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff9db385a2bf81 RCX: ffffb5564089bd18
RDX: ffff9db281110100 RSI: 0000000000000fe4 RDI: ffff9db380145400
RBP: ffff9db385a2bf80 R08: ffff9db385a2bfc0 R09: ffff9db385a2bfc2
R10: ffff9db385a6c000 R11: ffff9db385a2bf80 R12: 0000000000000000
R13: 00000000000003e8 R14: ffff9db281110100 R15: ffffffffbb006108
FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff9db3bdcc0000(0000)
knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00005602323024c8 CR3: 0000000022e0c000 CR4: 00000000000006e0
Call Trace:

ring_buffer_lock_reserve+0x136/0x360
? __do_softirq+0x287/0x2df
? __pfx_rcu_softirq_qs+0x10/0x10
trace_function+0x21/0x110
? __pfx_rcu_softirq_qs+0x10/0x10
? __do_softirq+0x287/0x2df
function_trace_call+0xf6/0x120
0xffffffffc038f097
? rcu_softirq_qs+0x5/0x140
rcu_softirq_qs+0x5/0x140
__do_softirq+0x287/0x2df
run_ksoftirqd+0x2a/0x30
smpboot_thread_fn+0x188/0x220
? __pfx_smpboot_thread_fn+0x10/0x10
kthread+0xe7/0x110
? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10
ret_from_fork+0x2c/0x50

—[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]—

[ crash report and test reproducer credit goes to Zheng Yejian]

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How to fix CVE-2023-53709

CVE-2023-53709 is a unknown severity vulnerability affecting the affected product.

Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ring-buffer: Handle race between rb_move_tail and rb_check_pages It seems a data race between ring_buffer writing and integrity check. That is, RB_FLAG of head_page is been updating, while at same time RB_FLAG was cleared when doing integrity check rb_check_pages(): rb_check_pages() rb_handle_head_page(): ——– ——– rb_head_page_deactivate() rb_head_page_set_normal() rb_head_page_activate() […]

Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public

How to Fix:

1 Identify affected systems

- Check if you're running the affected product

2 Immediate actions

- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access

3 Verification

- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)

4 Long-term prevention

- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations

Exploit Difficulty Assessment

HARD
⏱️ Time to Exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Skills Required: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public Exploits: Rare or not public

Vulnerability Timeline

Oct 22, 2025
Vulnerability Published

CVE details first published to NVD database

Jan 01, 1970
Last Modified

CVE details were updated

Oct 28, 2025
Imported to Database

Added to this CVE tracking system

Detection Rules & IOCs

No specific detection rules generated for this vulnerability type.

No vendor/product data available.