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CVE-2023-53522

cgroup,freezer: hold cpu_hotplug_lock before freezer_mutex

High7.8EPSS 0.15%
Published
Updated
Reserved
Assigned by
Linux

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cgroup,freezer: hold cpu_hotplug_lock before freezer_mutex syzbot is reporting circular locking dependency between cpu_hotplug_lock and freezer_mutex, for commit f5d39b020809 ("freezer,sched: Rewrite core freezer logic") replaced atomic_inc() in freezer_apply_state() with static_branch_inc() which holds cpu_hotplug_lock. cpu_hotplug_lock => cgroup_threadgroup_rwsem => freezer_mutex cgroup_file_write() { cgroup_procs_write() { __cgroup_procs_write() { cgroup_procs_write_start() { cgroup_attach_lock() { cpus_read_lock() { percpu_down_read(&cpu_hotplug_lock); } percpu_down_write(&cgroup_threadgroup_rwsem); } } cgroup_attach_task() { cgroup_migrate() { cgroup_migrate_execute() { freezer_attach() { mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex); (...snipped...) } } } } (...snipped...) } } } freezer_mutex => cpu_hotplug_lock cgroup_file_write() { freezer_write() { freezer_change_state() { mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex); freezer_apply_state() { static_branch_inc(&freezer_active) { static_key_slow_inc() { cpus_read_lock(); static_key_slow_inc_cpuslocked(); cpus_read_unlock(); } } } mutex_unlock(&freezer_mutex); } } } Swap locking order by moving cpus_read_lock() in freezer_apply_state() to before mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex) in freezer_change_state().

Timeline

  1. ID reserved

    By Linux

  2. Published

  3. · 13 months later

    Record updated

Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.

Scores

CVSS scores of CVE-2023-53522, by who scored it
Scored byCVSSScoreVector
NVDNVD · Analyzed3.1High7.8CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
0.15% · top 95% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)
CISA SSVC
Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
Loading the EPSS history…

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.

Affected products

  • Linux · Linux

    • affected f5d39b020809146cc28e6e73369bf8065e0310aa – < 3756171b97c307d9df8b8ded1d883eec30172085
    • affected f5d39b020809146cc28e6e73369bf8065e0310aa – < 34fbb7b45bae20b551dda24337c7761ca13ce69d
    • affected f5d39b020809146cc28e6e73369bf8065e0310aa – < 57dcd64c7e036299ef526b400a8d12b8a2352f26

  • Linux · Linux

    • affected 6.1
    • unaffected < 6.1
    • unaffected 6.1.25 – ≤ 6.1.*
    • unaffected 6.2.12 – ≤ 6.2.*
    • unaffected 6.3 – ≤ *

References (3)

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

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Record last updated .