# CVE-2023-52813: crypto: pcrypt - Fix hungtask for PADATA_RESET

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's pcrypt module causes a hung task and kernel panic during crypto self-tests, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52813, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52813, GHSA-qwvj-ww5h-jh39, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52813

## What is CVE-2023-52813?

CVE-2023-52813 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

crypto: pcrypt - Fix hungtask for PADATA_RESET

We found a hungtask bug in test_aead_vec_cfg as follows:

INFO: task cryptomgr_test:391009 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
"echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
Call trace:
 __switch_to+0x98/0xe0
 __schedule+0x6c4/0xf40
 schedule+0xd8/0x1b4
 schedule_timeout+0x474/0x560
 wait_for_common+0x368/0x4e0
 wait_for_completion+0x20/0x30
 wait_for_completion+0x20/0x30
 test_aead_vec_cfg+0xab4/0xd50
 test_aead+0x144/0x1f0
 alg_test_aead+0xd8/0x1e0
 alg_test+0x634/0x890
 cryptomgr_test+0x40/0x70
 kthread+0x1e0/0x220
 ret_from_fork+0x10/0x18
 Kernel panic - not syncing: hung_task: blocked tasks

For padata_do_parallel, when the return err is 0 or -EBUSY, it will call
wait_for_completion(&wait->completion) in test_aead_vec_cfg. In normal
case, aead_request_complete() will be called in pcrypt_aead_serial and the
return err is 0 for padata_do_parallel. But, when pinst->flags is
PADATA_RESET, the return err is -EBUSY for padata_do_parallel, and it
won't call aead_request_complete(). Therefore, test_aead_vec_cfg will
hung at wait_for_completion(&wait->completion), which will cause
hungtask.

The problem comes as following:
(padata_do_parallel)                 |
    rcu_read_lock_bh();              |
    err = -EINVAL;                   |   (padata_replace)
                                     |     pinst->flags |= PADATA_RESET;
    err = -EBUSY                     |
    if (pinst->flags & PADATA_RESET) |
        rcu_read_unlock_bh()         |
        return err

In order to resolve the problem, we replace the return err -EBUSY with
-EAGAIN, which means parallel_data is changing, and the caller should call
it again.

v3:
remove retry and just change the return err.
v2:
introduce padata_try_do_parallel() in pcrypt_aead_encrypt and
pcrypt_aead_decrypt to solve the hungtask.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52813?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52813?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52813 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52813 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-2023-52813 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52813 is a medium-severity denial of service 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-2023-52813 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-2023-52813/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52813/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52813
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52813
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52813

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52813/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.