CVE-2023-52854 - CVE House
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Status published Unknown CVE-2023-52854

padata: Fix refcnt handling in padata_free_shell()

Vulnerability Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: padata: Fix refcnt handling in padata_free_shell() In a high-load arm64 environment, the pcrypt_aead01 test in LTP can lead to system UAF (Use-After-Free) issues. Due to the lengthy analysis of the pcrypt_aead01 function call, I'll describe the problem scenario using a simplified model: Suppose there's a user of padata named `user_function` that adheres to the padata requirement of calling `padata_free_shell` after `serial()` has been invoked, as demonstrated in the following code: ```c struct request { struct padata_priv padata; struct completion *done; }; void parallel(struct padata_priv *padata) { do_something(); } void serial(struct padata_priv *padata) { struct request *request = container_of(padata, struct request, padata); complete(request->done); } void user_function() { DECLARE_COMPLETION(done) padata->parallel = parallel; padata->serial = serial; padata_do_parallel(); wait_for_completion(&done); padata_free_shell(); } ``` In the corresponding padata.c file, there's the following code: ```c static void padata_serial_worker(struct work_struct *serial_work) { ... cnt = 0; while (!list_empty(&local_list)) { ... padata->serial(padata); cnt++; } local_bh_enable(); if (refcount_sub_and_test(cnt, &pd->refcnt)) padata_free_pd(pd); } ``` Because of the high system load and the accumulation of unexecuted softirq at this moment, `local_bh_enable()` in padata takes longer to execute than usual. Subsequently, when accessing `pd->refcnt`, `pd` has already been released by `padata_free_shell()`, resulting in a UAF issue with `pd->refcnt`. The fix is straightforward: add `refcount_dec_and_test` before calling `padata_free_pd` in `padata_free_shell`.

Impact Analysis

Refer to official advisory for detailed impact metrics.

Remediation

Ensure systems are updated to the latest vendor-supplied patch levels.

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Credits & Attribution

No credits recorded in the NVD database.

Affected Vendor

Affected Software

Linux
Vulnerable Versions:
07928d9bfc81640bab36f5190e8725894d93b659, 13721e447acc2b82c19cf72e9e6c4291c77693ed, 7a2ccb65f90168edc2348495bb56093c466ffa39, 928cf3d733c4efc221e1a78b14cb2ee066627260, c9da8ee1491719001a444f4af688b75e72b58418, dc34710a7aba5207e7cb99d11588c04535b3c53d, 5fefc9b3e3584a1ce98da27c38e1b8dda1939d74, 26daf8e6515c2dcd25d235468420b9f46e0acdac, 3.16.84, 4.4.215, 4.9.215, 4.14.172, 4.19.103, 5.4.19, 5.5.3, 5.6, 0, 5.10.201, 5.15.139, 6.1.63, 6.5.12, 6.6.2, 6.7

Timeline

Official Publish: May 21st, 2024
Last Modified: May 23rd, 2026
Added to House: July 22nd, 2026

CVSS Vectors

No vector data available

Weaknesses (CWE)

No CWE data available

MITRE ATT&CK TTPs

No associated TTPs found for this vulnerability.