CVE-2023-52635 PM / devfreq: Synchronize devfreq_monitor_[start/stop]

Medium 5.5 Published 2 Apr 2024 Updated 11 May 2026

A race condition in the Linux kernel devfreq subsystem can cause timer list corruption and kernel crashes when switching governors frequently.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2023-52635?

CVE-2023-52635 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 2 Apr 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

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

PM / devfreq: Synchronize devfreq_monitor_[start/stop]

There is a chance if a frequent switch of the governor done in a loop result in timer list corruption where timer cancel being done from two place one from cancel_delayed_work_sync() and followed by expire_timers() can be seen from the traces[1].

while true do echo "simple_ondemand" > /sys/class/devfreq/1d84000.ufshc/governor echo "performance" > /sys/class/devfreq/1d84000.ufshc/governor done

It looks to be issue with devfreq driver where device_monitor_[start/stop] need to synchronized so that delayed work should get corrupted while it is either being queued or running or being cancelled.

Let's use polling flag and devfreq lock to synchronize the queueing the timer instance twice and work data being corrupted.

[1] ... .. <idle>-0 [003] 9436.209662: timer_cancel timer=0xffffff80444f0428 <idle>-0 [003] 9436.209664: timer_expire_entry timer=0xffffff80444f0428 now=0x10022da1c function=__typeid__ZTSFvP10timer_listE_global_addr baseclk=0x10022da1c <idle>-0 [003] 9436.209718: timer_expire_exit timer=0xffffff80444f0428 kworker/u16:6-14217 [003] 9436.209863: timer_start timer=0xffffff80444f0428 function=__typeid__ZTSFvP10timer_listE_global_addr expires=0x10022da2b now=0x10022da1c flags=182452227 vendor.xxxyyy.ha-1593 [004] 9436.209888: timer_cancel timer=0xffffff80444f0428 vendor.xxxyyy.ha-1593 [004] 9436.216390: timer_init timer=0xffffff80444f0428 vendor.xxxyyy.ha-1593 [004] 9436.216392: timer_start timer=0xffffff80444f0428 function=__typeid__ZTSFvP10timer_listE_global_addr expires=0x10022da2c now=0x10022da1d flags=186646532 vendor.xxxyyy.ha-1593 [005] 9436.220992: timer_cancel timer=0xffffff80444f0428 xxxyyyTraceManag-7795 [004] 9436.261641: timer_cancel timer=0xffffff80444f0428

[2]

9436.261653][ C4] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address dead00000000012a [ 9436.261664][ C4] Mem abort info: [ 9436.261666][ C4] ESR = 0x96000044 [ 9436.261669][ C4] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits [ 9436.261671][ C4] SET = 0, FnV = 0 [ 9436.261673][ C4] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 [ 9436.261675][ C4] Data abort info: [ 9436.261677][ C4] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000044 [ 9436.261680][ C4] CM = 0, WnR = 1 [ 9436.261682][ C4] [dead00000000012a] address between user and kernel address ranges [ 9436.261685][ C4] Internal error: Oops: 96000044 [#1] PREEMPT SMP [ 9436.261701][ C4] Skip md ftrace buffer dump for: 0x3a982d0 ...

[ 9436.262138][ C4] CPU: 4 PID: 7795 Comm: TraceManag Tainted: G S W O 5.10.149-android12-9-o-g17f915d29d0c #1 [ 9436.262141][ C4] Hardware name: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (DT) [ 9436.262144][ C4] pstate: 22400085 (nzCv daIf +PAN -UAO +TCO BTYPE=--) [ 9436.262161][ C4] pc : expire_timers+0x9c/0x438 [ 9436.262164][ C4] lr : expire_timers+0x2a4/0x438 [ 9436.262168][ C4] sp : ffffffc010023dd0 [ 9436.262171][ C4] x29: ffffffc010023df0 x28: ffffffd0636fdc18 [ 9436.262178][ C4] x27: ffffffd063569dd0 x26: ffffffd063536008 [ 9436.262182][ C4] x25: 0000000000000001 x24: ffffff88f7c69280 [ 9436.262185][ C4] x23: 00000000000000e0 x22: dead000000000122 [ 9436.262188][ C4] x21: 000000010022da29 x20: ffffff8af72b4e80 [ 9436.262191][ C4] x19: ffffffc010023e50 x18: ffffffc010025038 [ 9436.262195][ C4] x17: 0000000000000240 x16: 0000000000000201 [ 9436.262199][ C4] x15: ffffffffffffffff x14: ffffff889f3c3100 [ 9436.262203][ C4] x13: ffffff889f3c3100 x12: 00000000049f56b8 [ 9436.262207][ C4] x11: 00000000049f56b8 x10: 00000000ffffffff [ 9436.262212][ C4] x9 : ffffffc010023e50 x8 : dead000000000122 [ 9436.262216][ C4] x7 : ffffffffffffffff x6 : ffffffc0100239d8 [ 9436.262220][ C4] x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000101 [ 9436.262223][ C4] x3 : 0000000000000080 x2 : ffffff8 ---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-835

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52635?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-52635?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2023-52635 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52635 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Debian Debian Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-52635, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52635, GHSA-f688-vq7p-p658, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52635.