Skip to content
OpenAdvisories
High · 7.8 CVE-2023-52879 EUVD-2023-59592GHSA-8j5h-5p5c-hg7m

tracing: Have trace_event_file have ref counters

Published May 21, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.15 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.4 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.14 Package: linux-aws-6.17 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-aws-6.8 Package: linux-aws-7.0 Package: linux-aws-fips Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.15 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.4 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.11 Package: linux-azure-6.14 Package: linux-azure-6.17 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-6.8 Package: linux-azure-7.0 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.15 Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.14 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.17 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.8 Package: linux-azure-fde-7.0 Package: linux-azure-fips Package: linux-azure-nvidia Package: linux-azure-nvidia-6.14 Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-fips Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.4 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.14 Package: linux-gcp-6.17 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gcp-6.8 Package: linux-gcp-7.0 Package: linux-gcp-fips Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.15 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.4 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.14 Package: linux-hwe-6.17 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-6.8 Package: linux-hwe-7.0 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-ibm-5.15 Package: linux-ibm-5.4 Package: linux-ibm-6.8 Package: linux-intel Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-intel-iotg Package: linux-intel-iotg-5.15 Package: linux-iot Package: linux-kvm Package: linux-lowlatency Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 Package: linux-nvidia Package: linux-nvidia-6.11 Package: linux-nvidia-6.17 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-6.8 Package: linux-nvidia-7.0 Package: linux-nvidia-bos Package: linux-nvidia-lowlatency Package: linux-nvidia-tegra Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-igx 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-6.11 Package: linux-oem-6.14 Package: linux-oem-6.17 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oem-6.8 Package: linux-oem-7.0 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.15 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.4 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.14 Package: linux-oracle-6.17 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-oracle-6.8 Package: linux-oracle-7.0 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-5.4 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-realtime-6.14 Package: linux-realtime-6.17 Package: linux-realtime-6.8 Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.15 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.14 Package: linux-riscv-6.17 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-riscv-6.8 Package: linux-riscv-7.0 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Package: linux-xilinx Package: linux-xilinx-zynqmp Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

tracing: Have trace_event_file have ref counters

The following can crash the kernel:

# cd /sys/kernel/tracing
# echo 'p:sched schedule' > kprobe_events
# exec 5>>events/kprobes/sched/enable
# > kprobe_events
# exec 5>&-

The above commands:

1. Change directory to the tracefs directory
2. Create a kprobe event (doesn't matter what one)
3. Open bash file descriptor 5 on the enable file of the kprobe event
4. Delete the kprobe event (removes the files too)
5. Close the bash file descriptor 5

The above causes a crash!

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000028
#PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI
CPU: 6 PID: 877 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.5.0-rc4-test-00008-g2c6b6b1029d4-dirty #186
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.2-debian-1.16.2-1 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:tracing_release_file_tr+0xc/0x50

What happens here is that the kprobe event creates a trace_event_file
"file" descriptor that represents the file in tracefs to the event. It
maintains state of the event (is it enabled for the given instance?).
Opening the "enable" file gets a reference to the event "file" descriptor
via the open file descriptor. When the kprobe event is deleted, the file is
also deleted from the tracefs system which also frees the event "file"
descriptor.

But as the tracefs file is still opened by user space, it will not be
totally removed until the final dput() is called on it. But this is not
true with the event "file" descriptor that is already freed. If the user
does a write to or simply closes the file descriptor it will reference the
event "file" descriptor that was just freed, causing a use-after-free bug.

To solve this, add a ref count to the event "file" descriptor as well as a
new flag called "FREED". The "file" will not be freed until the last
reference is released. But the FREE flag will be set when the event is
removed to prevent any more modifications to that event from happening,
even if there's still a reference to the event "file" descriptor.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.4.258 – < 5.4.262, 5.10.198 – < 5.10.202, 5.15.134 – < 5.15.140, 6.1.55 – < 6.1.64, 6.5.5 – < 6.5.13, 6.6 5.4.262

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 6.6.8-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.6.8-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.1.64-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 24.04 LTS linux-bluefield No fix yet —
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.10 linux +8 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.10 linux +8 No fix yet —
Show 12 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux +53 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux +59 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +13 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime +2 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux +21 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS linux-aws-5.4 +6 No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-64kb 6.4.0-150600.23.14.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-azure +1 6.4.0-150600.8.8.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2896-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.14.2.150600.12.4.3 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-docs +5 6.4.0-150600.23.14.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
SLES 15 SP6 kernel-syms-azure 6.4.0-150600.8.8.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2896-1
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-17.1.1.51 SUSE-SU-2025:20008-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-rt +1 6.4.0-9.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20028-1
SLE Micro 6.0 kernel-source +2 6.4.0-18.1 SUSE-SU-2025:20008-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-default 6.4.0-150600.23.14.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6-RT_Update_1 1-150600.1.5.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2973-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_2 1-150600.13.3.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt +3 6.4.0-150600.10.5.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2973-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Leap 15.6 dtb-aarch64 +1 6.4.0-150600.23.14.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-azure +1 6.4.0-150600.8.8.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2896-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-default-base 6.4.0-150600.23.14.2.150600.12.4.3 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-docs +8 6.4.0-150600.23.14.2 SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-rt +3 6.4.0-150600.10.5.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2973-1
openSUSE Leap 15.6 kernel-syms-azure 6.4.0-150600.8.8.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2896-1

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 kernel-livepatch-6.1.66-91.160 1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2023-461
Amazon Linux 2023 perf +13 6.1.66-91.160.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2023-461

Advisories 9

References