CVE-2023-53531

Source
https://cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53531
Import Source
https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2023-53531.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/CVE-2023-53531
Downstream
Related
Published
2025-10-01T11:46:15Z
Modified
2026-08-12T03:51:49Z
Severity
  • 7.8 (High) CVSS_V3 - CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H CVSS Calculator
Summary
null_blk: fix poll request timeout handling
Details

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

null_blk: fix poll request timeout handling

When doing io_uring benchmark on /dev/nullb0, it's easy to crash the kernel if poll requests timeout triggered, as reported by David. [1]

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008 Workqueue: kblockd blk_mq_timeout_work RIP: 0010:null_timeout_rq+0x4e/0x91 Call Trace: ? null_timeout_rq+0x4e/0x91 blk_mq_handle_expired+0x31/0x4b bt_iter+0x68/0x84 ? bt_tags_iter+0x81/0x81 __sbitmap_for_each_set.constprop.0+0xb0/0xf2 ? __blk_mq_complete_request_remote+0xf/0xf bt_for_each+0x46/0x64 ? __blk_mq_complete_request_remote+0xf/0xf ? percpu_ref_get_many+0xc/0x2a blk_mq_queue_tag_busy_iter+0x14d/0x18e blk_mq_timeout_work+0x95/0x127 process_one_work+0x185/0x263 worker_thread+0x1b5/0x227

This is indeed a race problem between null_timeout_rq() and null_poll().

null_poll() null_timeout_rq() spin_lock(&nq->poll_lock) list_splice_init(&nq->poll_list, &list) spin_unlock(&nq->poll_lock)

while (!list_empty(&list)) req = list_first_entry() list_del_init() ... blk_mq_add_to_batch() // req->rq_next = NULL spin_lock(&nq->poll_lock)

				// rq->queuelist->next == NULL
				list_del_init(&rq->queuelist)

				spin_unlock(&nq->poll_lock)

Fix these problems by setting requests state to MQ_RQ_COMPLETE under nq->poll_lock protection, in which null_timeout_rq() can safely detect this race and early return.

Note this patch just fix the kernel panic when request timeout happen.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/3893581.1691785261@warthog.procyon.org.uk/

Database specific
{
    "cna_assigner": "Linux",
    "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/53xxx/CVE-2023-53531.json"
}
References

Affected packages

Git / git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git

Affected ranges

Type
GIT
Repo
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git
Events
Introduced
0a593fbbc245a85940ed34caa3aa1e4cb060c54b
Fixed
a0b4a0666beacfe8add9c71d8922475541dbae73
Fixed
a7cb2e709f2927cc3c76781df3e45de2381b3b9d
Fixed
5a26e45edb4690d58406178b5a9ea4c6dcf2c105

Database specific

source
"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2023-53531.json"

Linux / Kernel

Package

Name
Kernel

Affected ranges

Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
5.16.0
Fixed
6.1.54
Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
6.2.0
Fixed
6.5.4

Database specific

source
"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2023-53531.json"