CVE-2023-54211

Linux Kernel - Denial of Service via Ftrace Event Disable Warning

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing: Fix warning in trace_buffered_event_disable() Warning happened in trace_buffered_event_disable() at WARN_ON_ONCE(!trace_buffered_event_ref) Call Trace: ? __warn+0xa5/0x1b0 ? trace_buffered_event_disable+0x189/0x1b0 __ftrace_event_enable_disable+0x19e/0x3e0 free_probe_data+0x3b/0xa0 unregister_ftrace_function_probe_func+0x6b8/0x800 event_enable_func+0x2f0/0x3d0 ftrace_process_regex.isra.0+0x12d/0x1b0 ftrace_filter_write+0xe6/0x140 vfs_write+0x1c9/0x6f0 [...] The cause of the warning is in __ftrace_event_enable_disable(), trace_buffered_event_enable() was called once while trace_buffered_event_disable() was called twice. Reproduction script show as below, for analysis, see the comments: ``` #!/bin/bash cd /sys/kernel/tracing/ # 1. Register a 'disable_event' command, then: # 1) SOFT_DISABLED_BIT was set; # 2) trace_buffered_event_enable() was called first time; echo 'cmdline_proc_show:disable_event:initcall:initcall_finish' > \ set_ftrace_filter # 2. Enable the event registered, then: # 1) SOFT_DISABLED_BIT was cleared; # 2) trace_buffered_event_disable() was called first time; echo 1 > events/initcall/initcall_finish/enable # 3. Try to call into cmdline_proc_show(), then SOFT_DISABLED_BIT was # set again!!! cat /proc/cmdline # 4. Unregister the 'disable_event' command, then: # 1) SOFT_DISABLED_BIT was cleared again; # 2) trace_buffered_event_disable() was called second time!!! echo '!cmdline_proc_show:disable_event:initcall:initcall_finish' > \ set_ftrace_filter ``` To fix it, IIUC, we can change to call trace_buffered_event_enable() at fist time soft-mode enabled, and call trace_buffered_event_disable() at last time soft-mode disabled.

Scores

EPSS 0.0018
EPSS Percentile 8.2%

Details

Status published
Products (25)
linux/Kernel 4.15.0 - 4.19.291linux
linux/Kernel 4.20.0 - 5.4.253linux
linux/Kernel 4.7.0 - 4.14.322linux
linux/Kernel 5.11.0 - 5.15.124linux
linux/Kernel 5.16.0 - 6.1.43linux
linux/Kernel 5.5.0 - 5.10.190linux
linux/Kernel 6.2.0 - 6.4.8linux
Linux/Linux < 4.7
Linux/Linux 0fc1b09ff1ff404ddf753f5ffa5cd0adc8fdcdc9 - 1488d782c9e43087a3f341b8186cd25f3cf75583
Linux/Linux 0fc1b09ff1ff404ddf753f5ffa5cd0adc8fdcdc9 - 528c9d73153754defb748f0b96ad33308668d817
... and 15 more
Published Dec 30, 2025
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026