CVE-2023-53712
Description
A logic error was found in the Linux kernel's ARM kexec crash handling in the SMP stop notification code. A local user can trigger this issue by causing a kernel panic from a high-resolution timer interrupt context (such as a software watchdog expiration), where the crash shutdown path attempts to synchronously stop other CPUs with interrupts disabled. This violates SMP call constraints and results in warnings, potential deadlocks, or failure to properly capture crash state for kdump.
Statement
During a kernel panic, the crash handling code needs to stop all other CPUs before capturing system state for kdump. On ARM, machine_crash_shutdown() calls crash_smp_send_stop() which uses synchronous SMP function calls to notify other cores. When the panic originates from an hrtimer interrupt (like the software watchdog), interrupts are already disabled on the panicking CPU. Making synchronous cross-CPU calls in this state can deadlock if target CPUs are waiting for interrupts, and triggers kernel warnings about improper SMP call context. This is ARM-architecture specific and primarily affects systems using kdump for crash analysis. The bug doesn't enable privilege escalation but can prevent successful crash dump collection.
Mitigation
This issue is specific to ARM platforms using kexec/kdump. No runtime mitigation is available.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.
