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

posix-timers: Prevent RT livelock in itimer_delete()

itimer_delete() has a retry loop when the timer is concurrently expired. On
non-RT kernels this just spin-waits until the timer callback has completed,
except for posix CPU timers which have HAVE_POSIX_CPU_TIMERS_TASK_WORK
enabled.

In that case and on RT kernels the existing task could live lock when
preempting the task which does the timer delivery.

Replace spin_unlock() with an invocation of timer_wait_running() to handle
it the same way as the other retry loops in the posix timer code.
Advisories

No advisories yet.

Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 12:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.0, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

threat_severity

Moderate


Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: posix-timers: Prevent RT livelock in itimer_delete() itimer_delete() has a retry loop when the timer is concurrently expired. On non-RT kernels this just spin-waits until the timer callback has completed, except for posix CPU timers which have HAVE_POSIX_CPU_TIMERS_TASK_WORK enabled. In that case and on RT kernels the existing task could live lock when preempting the task which does the timer delivery. Replace spin_unlock() with an invocation of timer_wait_running() to handle it the same way as the other retry loops in the posix timer code.
Title posix-timers: Prevent RT livelock in itimer_delete()
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References

Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2025-12-09T00:01:12.832Z

Reserved: 2025-12-08T23:58:35.277Z

Link: CVE-2023-53815

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2025-12-09T01:16:53.717

Modified: 2025-12-09T18:37:13.640

Link: CVE-2023-53815

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Moderate

Publid Date: 2025-12-09T00:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2023-53815 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses

No weakness.