CVE-2023-53231

CVE-2023-53231 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low.

Key facts

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: erofs: Fix detection of atomic context Current check for atomic context is not sufficient as z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio can be called under rcu lock from blk_mq_flush_plug_list(). See the stacktrace [1] In such case we should hand off the decompression work for async processing rather than trying to do sync decompression in current context. Patch fixes the detection by checking for rcu_read_lock_any_held() and while at it use more appropriate !in_task() check than in_atomic(). Background: Historically erofs would always schedule a kworker for decompression which would incur the scheduling cost regardless of the context. But z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio() may not always be in atomic context and we could actually benefit from doing the decompression in z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio() if we are in thread context, for example when running with dm-verity. This optimization was later added in patch [2] which has shown improvement in performance benchmarks. ============================================== [1] Problem stacktrace [name:core&]BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:291 [name:core&]in_atomic(): 0, irqs_disabled(): 0, non_block: 0, pid: 1615, name: CpuMonitorServi [name:core&]preempt_count: 0, expected: 0 [name:core&]RCU nest depth: 1, expected: 0 CPU: 7 PID: 1615 Comm: CpuMonitorServi Tainted: G S W OE 6.1.25-android14-5-maybe-dirty-mainline #1 Hardware name: MT6897 (DT) Call trace: dump_backtrace+0x108/0x15c show_stack+0x20/0x30 dump_stack_lvl+0x6c/0x8c dump_stack+0x20/0x48 __might_resched+0x1fc/0x308 __might_sleep+0x50/0x88 mutex_lock+0x2c/0x110 z_erofs_decompress_queue+0x11c/0xc10 z_erofs_decompress_kickoff+0x110/0x1a4 z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio+0x154/0x180 bio_endio+0x1b0/0x1d8 __dm_io_complete+0x22c/0x280 clone_endio+0xe4/0x280 bio_endio+0x1b0/0x1d8 blk_update_request+0x138/0x3a4 blk_mq_plug_issue_direct+0xd4/0x19c blk_mq_flush_plug_list+0x2b0/0x354 __blk_flush_plug+0x110/0x160 blk_finish_plug+0x30/0x4c read_pages+0x2fc/0x370 page_cache_ra_unbounded+0xa4/0x23c page_cache_ra_order+0x290/0x320 do_sync_mmap_readahead+0x108/0x2c0 filemap_fault+0x19c/0x52c __do_fault+0xc4/0x114 handle_mm_fault+0x5b4/0x1168 do_page_fault+0x338/0x4b4 do_translation_fault+0x40/0x60 do_mem_abort+0x60/0xc8 el0_da+0x4c/0xe0 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xd4/0xfc el0t_64_sync+0x1a0/0x1a4 [2] Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/[email protected]/

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-53231?
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: erofs: Fix detection of atomic context Current check for atomic context is not sufficient as z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio can be called under rcu lock from blk_mq_flush_plug_list(). See the stacktrace [1] In such case we should hand off the decompression work for async processing rather than trying to do sync decompression in current context. Patch fixes the detection by checking for rcu_read_lock_any_held() and while at it use more appropriate !in_task() check than in_atomic(). Background: Historically erofs would always schedule a kworker for decompression which would incur the scheduling cost regardless of the context. But z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio() may not always be in atomic context and we could actually benefit from doing the decompression in z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio() if we are in thread context, for example when running with dm-verity. This optimization was later added in patch [2] which has shown improvement in performance benchmarks. ============================================== [1] Problem stacktrace [name:core&]BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:291 [name:core&]in_atomic(): 0, irqs_disabled(): 0, non_block: 0, pid: 1615, name: CpuMonitorServi [name:core&]preempt_count: 0, expected: 0 [name:core&]RCU nest depth: 1, expected: 0 CPU: 7 PID: 1615 Comm: CpuMonitorServi Tainted: G S W OE 6.1.25-android14-5-maybe-dirty-mainline #1 Hardware name: MT6897 (DT) Call trace: dump_backtrace+0x108/0x15c show_stack+0x20/0x30 dump_stack_lvl+0x6c/0x8c dump_stack+0x20/0x48 __might_resched+0x1fc/0x308 __might_sleep+0x50/0x88 mutex_lock+0x2c/0x110 z_erofs_decompress_queue+0x11c/0xc10 z_erofs_decompress_kickoff+0x110/0x1a4 z_erofs_decompressqueue_endio+0x154/0x180 bio_endio+0x1b0/0x1d8 __dm_io_complete+0x22c/0x280 clone_endio+0xe4/0x280 bio_endio+0x1b0/0x1d8 blk_update_request+0x138/0x3a4 blk_mq_plug_issue_direct+0xd4/0x19c blk_mq_flush_plug_list+0x2b0/0x354 __blk_flush_plug+0x110/0x160 blk_finish_plug+0x30/0x4c read_pages+0x2fc/0x370 page_cache_ra_unbounded+0xa4/0x23c page_cache_ra_order+0x290/0x320 do_sync_mmap_readahead+0x108/0x2c0 filemap_fault+0x19c/0x52c __do_fault+0xc4/0x114 handle_mm_fault+0x5b4/0x1168 do_page_fault+0x338/0x4b4 do_translation_fault+0x40/0x60 do_mem_abort+0x60/0xc8 el0_da+0x4c/0xe0 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xd4/0xfc el0t_64_sync+0x1a0/0x1a4 [2] Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/[email protected]/
How severe is CVE-2023-53231?
CVE-2023-53231 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2023-53231 being actively exploited?
It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (3rd percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2023-53231?
CVE-2023-53231 affects Linux Linux Kernel. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53231?
Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
Does CVE-2023-53231 have an EU (EUVD) identifier?
Yes. CVE-2023-53231 is tracked in the ENISA EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD) as EUVD-2023-59853.
When was CVE-2023-53231 published?
CVE-2023-53231 was published on 2025-09-15 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (1)

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