CVE-2023-53522

HIGH

Linux Kernel - Deadlock via Circular Locking Dependency Between cpu_hotplug_lock and freezer_mutex

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cgroup,freezer: hold cpu_hotplug_lock before freezer_mutex syzbot is reporting circular locking dependency between cpu_hotplug_lock and freezer_mutex, for commit f5d39b020809 ("freezer,sched: Rewrite core freezer logic") replaced atomic_inc() in freezer_apply_state() with static_branch_inc() which holds cpu_hotplug_lock. cpu_hotplug_lock => cgroup_threadgroup_rwsem => freezer_mutex cgroup_file_write() { cgroup_procs_write() { __cgroup_procs_write() { cgroup_procs_write_start() { cgroup_attach_lock() { cpus_read_lock() { percpu_down_read(&cpu_hotplug_lock); } percpu_down_write(&cgroup_threadgroup_rwsem); } } cgroup_attach_task() { cgroup_migrate() { cgroup_migrate_execute() { freezer_attach() { mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex); (...snipped...) } } } } (...snipped...) } } } freezer_mutex => cpu_hotplug_lock cgroup_file_write() { freezer_write() { freezer_change_state() { mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex); freezer_apply_state() { static_branch_inc(&freezer_active) { static_key_slow_inc() { cpus_read_lock(); static_key_slow_inc_cpuslocked(); cpus_read_unlock(); } } } mutex_unlock(&freezer_mutex); } } } Swap locking order by moving cpus_read_lock() in freezer_apply_state() to before mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex) in freezer_change_state().

Scores

CVSS v3 7.8
EPSS 0.0014
EPSS Percentile 3.9%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Details

Status published
Products (12)
linux/Kernel 6.1.0 - 6.1.25linux
linux/Kernel 6.2.0 - 6.2.12linux
Linux/Linux < 6.1
Linux/Linux 6.1
Linux/Linux 6.1.25 - 6.1.*
Linux/Linux 6.2.12 - 6.2.*
Linux/Linux 6.3
Linux/Linux f5d39b020809146cc28e6e73369bf8065e0310aa - 34fbb7b45bae20b551dda24337c7761ca13ce69d
Linux/Linux f5d39b020809146cc28e6e73369bf8065e0310aa - 3756171b97c307d9df8b8ded1d883eec30172085
Linux/Linux f5d39b020809146cc28e6e73369bf8065e0310aa - 57dcd64c7e036299ef526b400a8d12b8a2352f26
... and 2 more
Published Oct 01, 2025
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026