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Unscored CVE-2023-52562 EUVD-2023-57186GHSA-j56h-xwg2-4wc2

mm/slab_common: fix slab_caches list corruption after kmem_cache_destroy()

Published Mar 2, 2024 · Updated May 23, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

mm/slab_common: fix slab_caches list corruption after kmem_cache_destroy()

After the commit in Fixes:, if a module that created a slab cache does not
release all of its allocated objects before destroying the cache (at rmmod
time), we might end up releasing the kmem_cache object without removing it
from the slab_caches list thus corrupting the list as kmem_cache_destroy()
ignores the return value from shutdown_cache(), which in turn never removes
the kmem_cache object from slabs_list in case __kmem_cache_shutdown() fails
to release all of the cache's slabs.

This is easily observable on a kernel built with CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST=y
as after that ill release the system will immediately trip on list_add,
or list_del, assertions similar to the one shown below as soon as another
kmem_cache gets created, or destroyed:

[ 1041.213632] list_del corruption. next->prev should be ffff89f596fb5768, but was 52f1e5016aeee75d. (next=ffff89f595a1b268)
[ 1041.219165] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[ 1041.221517] kernel BUG at lib/list_debug.c:62!
[ 1041.223452] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI
[ 1041.225408] CPU: 2 PID: 1852 Comm: rmmod Kdump: loaded Tainted: G B W OE 6.5.0 #15
[ 1041.228244] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS edk2-20230524-3.fc37 05/24/2023
[ 1041.231212] RIP: 0010:__list_del_entry_valid+0xae/0xb0

Another quick way to trigger this issue, in a kernel with CONFIG_SLUB=y,
is to set slub_debug to poison the released objects and then just run
cat /proc/slabinfo after removing the module that leaks slab objects,
in which case the kernel will panic:

[ 50.954843] general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xa56b6b6b6b6b6b8b: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI
[ 50.961545] CPU: 2 PID: 1495 Comm: cat Kdump: loaded Tainted: G B W OE 6.5.0 #15
[ 50.966808] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS edk2-20230524-3.fc37 05/24/2023
[ 50.972663] RIP: 0010:get_slabinfo+0x42/0xf0

This patch fixes this issue by properly checking shutdown_cache()'s
return value before taking the kmem_cache_release() branch.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.19.8 – < 5.20, 6.0 5.20

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 6.5.6-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.5.6-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.1.64-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-raspi 6.7.0-1001.1 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-raspi-realtime No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp-6.5 6.5.0-1013.13~22.04.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-hwe-6.5 6.5.0-17.17~22.04.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 6.5.0-17.17.1.1.1~22.04.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-6.5 6.5.0-1014.14 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oem-6.5 6.5.0-1014.15 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle-6.5 6.5.0-1015.15~22.04.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +24 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +26 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
RHEL 8 perf +26 4.18.0-513.9.1.el8_9 RHSA-2023:7549
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
RHEL 9.2 EUS bpftool 7.0.0-284.48.1.el9_2 RHSA-2024:0448
RHEL 9.2 EUS perf +48 5.14.0-284.48.1.el9_2 RHSA-2024:0448
RHEL 8.8 EUS perf +26 4.18.0-477.36.1.el8_8 RHSA-2023:7539

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 kernel-livepatch-6.1.56-82.125 1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2023-385
Amazon Linux 2023 perf +13 6.1.56-82.125.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2023-385

Advisories 5

References