# CVE-2023-52831: cpu/hotplug: Don't offline the last non-isolated CPU

> A local attacker can crash the Linux kernel by offlining the last non-isolated CPU when isolated CPUs are configured, causing a system panic.

- **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:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52831, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52831, GHSA-93cv-5m73-q9h8, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-52831, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-52831, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52831

## What is CVE-2023-52831?

CVE-2023-52831 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:

cpu/hotplug: Don't offline the last non-isolated CPU

If a system has isolated CPUs via the "isolcpus=" command line parameter,
then an attempt to offline the last housekeeping CPU will result in a
WARN_ON() when rebuilding the scheduler domains and a subsequent panic due
to and unhandled empty CPU mas in partition_sched_domains_locked().

cpuset_hotplug_workfn()
  rebuild_sched_domains_locked()
    ndoms = generate_sched_domains(&doms, &attr);
      cpumask_and(doms[0], top_cpuset.effective_cpus, housekeeping_cpumask(HK_FLAG_DOMAIN));

Thus results in an empty CPU mask which triggers the warning and then the
subsequent crash:

WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 80 at kernel/sched/topology.c:2366 build_sched_domains+0x120c/0x1408
Call trace:
 build_sched_domains+0x120c/0x1408
 partition_sched_domains_locked+0x234/0x880
 rebuild_sched_domains_locked+0x37c/0x798
 rebuild_sched_domains+0x30/0x58
 cpuset_hotplug_workfn+0x2a8/0x930

Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address fffe80027ab37080
 partition_sched_domains_locked+0x318/0x880
 rebuild_sched_domains_locked+0x37c/0x798

Aside of the resulting crash, it does not make any sense to offline the last
last housekeeping CPU.

Prevent this by masking out the non-housekeeping CPUs when selecting a
target CPU for initiating the CPU unplug operation via the work queue.

Weakness: CWE-617 (Reachable Assertion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52831?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52831?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52831 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52831 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-2023-52831 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52831 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-2023-52831 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-2023-52831/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52831/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52831
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52831
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52831

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52831/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.