# CVE-2023-52707: sched/psi: Fix use-after-free in ep_remove_wait_queue() > A use-after-free in the Linux kernel scheduler allows local attackers to potentially execute code or escalate privileges via cgroup pressure file polling. - **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`) - **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:** Yes - **Published:** 21 May 2024 - **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026 - **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52707, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52707, GHSA-cw5r-8wj2-xpqf, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52707 ## What is CVE-2023-52707? CVE-2023-52707 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 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: sched/psi: Fix use-after-free in ep_remove_wait_queue() If a non-root cgroup gets removed when there is a thread that registered trigger and is polling on a pressure file within the cgroup, the polling waitqueue gets freed in the following path: do_rmdir cgroup_rmdir kernfs_drain_open_files cgroup_file_release cgroup_pressure_release psi_trigger_destroy However, the polling thread still has a reference to the pressure file and will access the freed waitqueue when the file is closed or upon exit: fput ep_eventpoll_release ep_free ep_remove_wait_queue remove_wait_queue This results in use-after-free as pasted below. The fundamental problem here is that cgroup_file_release() (and consequently waitqueue's lifetime) is not tied to the file's real lifetime. Using wake_up_pollfree() here might be less than ideal, but it is in line with the comment at commit 42288cb44c4b ("wait: add wake_up_pollfree()") since the waitqueue's lifetime is not tied to file's one and can be considered as another special case. While this would be fixable by somehow making cgroup_file_release() be tied to the fput(), it would require sizable refactoring at cgroups or higher layer which might be more justifiable if we identify more cases like this. BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x60/0xc0 Write of size 4 at addr ffff88810e625328 by task a.out/4404 CPU: 19 PID: 4404 Comm: a.out Not tainted 6.2.0-rc6 #38 Hardware name: Amazon EC2 c5a.8xlarge/, BIOS 1.0 10/16/2017 Call Trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x73/0xa0 print_report+0x16c/0x4e0 kasan_report+0xc3/0xf0 kasan_check_range+0x2d2/0x310 _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x60/0xc0 remove_wait_queue+0x1a/0xa0 ep_free+0x12c/0x170 ep_eventpoll_release+0x26/0x30 __fput+0x202/0x400 task_work_run+0x11d/0x170 do_exit+0x495/0x1130 do_group_exit+0x100/0x100 get_signal+0xd67/0xde0 arch_do_signal_or_restart+0x2a/0x2b0 exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x94/0x100 syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x20/0x40 do_syscall_64+0x52/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd Allocated by task 4404: kasan_set_track+0x3d/0x60 __kasan_kmalloc+0x85/0x90 psi_trigger_create+0x113/0x3e0 pressure_write+0x146/0x2e0 cgroup_file_write+0x11c/0x250 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x186/0x220 vfs_write+0x3d8/0x5c0 ksys_write+0x90/0x110 do_syscall_64+0x43/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd Freed by task 4407: kasan_set_track+0x3d/0x60 kasan_save_free_info+0x27/0x40 ____kasan_slab_free+0x11d/0x170 slab_free_freelist_hook+0x87/0x150 __kmem_cache_free+0xcb/0x180 psi_trigger_destroy+0x2e8/0x310 cgroup_file_release+0x4f/0xb0 kernfs_drain_open_files+0x165/0x1f0 kernfs_drain+0x162/0x1a0 __kernfs_remove+0x1fb/0x310 kernfs_remove_by_name_ns+0x95/0xe0 cgroup_addrm_files+0x67f/0x700 cgroup_destroy_locked+0x283/0x3c0 cgroup_rmdir+0x29/0x100 kernfs_iop_rmdir+0xd1/0x140 vfs_rmdir+0xfe/0x240 do_rmdir+0x13d/0x280 __x64_sys_rmdir+0x2c/0x30 do_syscall_64+0x43/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52707? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2023-52707? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2023-52707 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52707 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel - [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2023-52707 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2023-52707 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52707 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page. Task: 1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies. 2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it. 3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead. 4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why. 5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing. Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52707/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52707/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52707 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52707 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52707 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52707/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.