CVE-2023-54316 - Vulnerability Details

- refscale: Fix uninitalized use of wait_queue_head_t

Description

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

refscale: Fix uninitalized use of wait_queue_head_t

Running the refscale test occasionally crashes the kernel with the
following error:

[ 8569.952896] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffffffffffffe8
[ 8569.952900] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
[ 8569.952902] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
[ 8569.952904] PGD c4b048067 P4D c4b049067 PUD c4b04b067 PMD 0
[ 8569.952910] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT_RT SMP NOPTI
[ 8569.952916] Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R750/0WMWCR, BIOS 1.2.4 05/28/2021
[ 8569.952917] RIP: 0010:prepare_to_wait_event+0x101/0x190
:
[ 8569.952940] Call Trace:
[ 8569.952941] <TASK>
[ 8569.952944] ref_scale_reader+0x380/0x4a0 [refscale]
[ 8569.952959] kthread+0x10e/0x130
[ 8569.952966] ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30
[ 8569.952973] </TASK>

The likely cause is that init_waitqueue_head() is called after the call to
the torture_create_kthread() function that creates the ref_scale_reader
kthread. Although this init_waitqueue_head() call will very likely
complete before this kthread is created and starts running, it is
possible that the calling kthread will be delayed between the calls to
torture_create_kthread() and init_waitqueue_head(). In this case, the
new kthread will use the waitqueue head before it is properly initialized,
which is not good for the kernel's health and well-being.

The above crash happened here:

static inline void __add_wait_queue(...)
{
:
if (!(wq->flags & WQ_FLAG_PRIORITY)) <=== Crash here

The offset of flags from list_head entry in wait_queue_entry is
-0x18. If reader_tasks[i].wq.head.next is NULL as allocated reader_task
structure is zero initialized, the instruction will try to access address
0xffffffffffffffe8, which is exactly the fault address listed above.

This commit therefore invokes init_waitqueue_head() before creating
the kthread.

Published: 2025-12-30

Score: 5.5 Medium

EPSS: < 1% Very Low

KEV: No

Impact:

Action:

Analysis

No analysis available yet.

Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).

Vendor Product Default status Versions

Linux

unaffected

Version	Status	Constraints
`653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023`	affected	< 066fbd8bc981cf49923bf828b7b4092894df577f
`653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023`	affected	< ec9d118ad99dc6f1bc674c1e649c25533d89b9ba
`653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023`	affected	< e0322a255a2242dbe4686b6176b3c83dea490529
`653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023`	affected	< e5de968a9032366198720eac4f368ed7e690b3ef
`653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023`	affected	< 70a2856fd1d0a040c876ba9e3f89b949ae92e4dd
`653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023`	affected	< f5063e8948dad7f31adb007284a5d5038ae31bb8

Linux

affected

Version	Status	Constraints
`5.9`	affected	—
`0`	unaffected	< 5.9
`5.10.195`	unaffected	≤ 5.10.*
`5.15.132`	unaffected	≤ 5.15.*
`6.1.53`	unaffected	≤ 6.1.*
`6.4.16`	unaffected	≤ 6.4.*
`6.5.3`	unaffected	≤ 6.5.*
`6.6`	unaffected	≤ *

No data.

No data available yet.

Remediation

No remediation available yet.

Tracking

Sign in to view the affected projects.

Advisories

No advisories yet.

No CVSS v4.0

Attack Vector Local

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required Low

Scope Unchanged

Confidentiality Impact None

Integrity Impact None

Availability Impact High

User Interaction None

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

The EPSS score is 0.00036.

Key SSVC decision points have not yet been added.

References

Link	Providers
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/066fbd8bc981cf49923bf828b7b4092894df577f
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/70a2856fd1d0a040c876ba9e3f89b949ae92e4dd
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0322a255a2242dbe4686b6176b3c83dea490529
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e5de968a9032366198720eac4f368ed7e690b3ef
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ec9d118ad99dc6f1bc674c1e649c25533d89b9ba
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f5063e8948dad7f31adb007284a5d5038ae31bb8
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2025123037-CVE-2023-54316-f3c8@gregkh/T
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54316
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54316

History

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 12:15:00 +0000

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
References		https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2025123037-CVE-2023-54316-f3c8@gregkh/T https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54316 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54316
Metrics	threat_severity `None`	cvssV3_1 `{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}` threat_severity `Low`

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 12:45:00 +0000

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
Description		In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: refscale: Fix uninitalized use of wait_queue_head_t Running the refscale test occasionally crashes the kernel with the following error: [ 8569.952896] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffffffffffffe8 [ 8569.952900] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 8569.952902] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 8569.952904] PGD c4b048067 P4D c4b049067 PUD c4b04b067 PMD 0 [ 8569.952910] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT_RT SMP NOPTI [ 8569.952916] Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R750/0WMWCR, BIOS 1.2.4 05/28/2021 [ 8569.952917] RIP: 0010:prepare_to_wait_event+0x101/0x190 : [ 8569.952940] Call Trace: [ 8569.952941] <TASK> [ 8569.952944] ref_scale_reader+0x380/0x4a0 [refscale] [ 8569.952959] kthread+0x10e/0x130 [ 8569.952966] ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 [ 8569.952973] </TASK> The likely cause is that init_waitqueue_head() is called after the call to the torture_create_kthread() function that creates the ref_scale_reader kthread. Although this init_waitqueue_head() call will very likely complete before this kthread is created and starts running, it is possible that the calling kthread will be delayed between the calls to torture_create_kthread() and init_waitqueue_head(). In this case, the new kthread will use the waitqueue head before it is properly initialized, which is not good for the kernel's health and well-being. The above crash happened here: static inline void __add_wait_queue(...) { : if (!(wq->flags & WQ_FLAG_PRIORITY)) <=== Crash here The offset of flags from list_head entry in wait_queue_entry is -0x18. If reader_tasks[i].wq.head.next is NULL as allocated reader_task structure is zero initialized, the instruction will try to access address 0xffffffffffffffe8, which is exactly the fault address listed above. This commit therefore invokes init_waitqueue_head() before creating the kthread.
Title		refscale: Fix uninitalized use of wait_queue_head_t
First Time appeared		Linux Linux linux Kernel
CPEs		cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
Vendors & Products		Linux Linux linux Kernel
References		https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/066fbd8bc981cf49923bf828b7b4092894df577f https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/70a2856fd1d0a040c876ba9e3f89b949ae92e4dd https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0322a255a2242dbe4686b6176b3c83dea490529 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e5de968a9032366198720eac4f368ed7e690b3ef https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ec9d118ad99dc6f1bc674c1e649c25533d89b9ba https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f5063e8948dad7f31adb007284a5d5038ae31bb8

Subscriptions

Linux Linux Kernel

MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published: 2025-12-30T12:23:46.526Z

Updated: 2025-12-30T12:23:46.526Z

Reserved: 2025-12-30T12:06:44.531Z

Link: CVE-2023-54316

Vulnrichment

No data.

NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2025-12-30T13:16:20.867

Modified: 2025-12-31T20:42:43.210

Link: CVE-2023-54316

Redhat

Severity : Low

Publid Date: 2025-12-30T00:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2023-54316 - Bugzilla

OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses

No weakness.

Tracking

Attack Vector Local

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required Low

Scope Unchanged

Confidentiality Impact None

Integrity Impact None

Availability Impact High

User Interaction None

Subscriptions

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