# CVE-2023-52835: perf/core: Bail out early if the request AUX area is out of bound

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel warning and potential denial of service by requesting an excessively large AUX area in perf.

- **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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52835, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52835, GHSA-p6xg-gj77-6vpg, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52835

## What is CVE-2023-52835?

CVE-2023-52835 is a high-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:

perf/core: Bail out early if the request AUX area is out of bound

When perf-record with a large AUX area, e.g 4GB, it fails with:

    #perf record -C 0 -m ,4G -e arm_spe_0// -- sleep 1
    failed to mmap with 12 (Cannot allocate memory)

and it reveals a WARNING with __alloc_pages():

	------------[ cut here ]------------
	WARNING: CPU: 44 PID: 17573 at mm/page_alloc.c:5568 __alloc_pages+0x1ec/0x248
	Call trace:
	 __alloc_pages+0x1ec/0x248
	 __kmalloc_large_node+0xc0/0x1f8
	 __kmalloc_node+0x134/0x1e8
	 rb_alloc_aux+0xe0/0x298
	 perf_mmap+0x440/0x660
	 mmap_region+0x308/0x8a8
	 do_mmap+0x3c0/0x528
	 vm_mmap_pgoff+0xf4/0x1b8
	 ksys_mmap_pgoff+0x18c/0x218
	 __arm64_sys_mmap+0x38/0x58
	 invoke_syscall+0x50/0x128
	 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x58/0x188
	 do_el0_svc+0x34/0x50
	 el0_svc+0x34/0x108
	 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xb8/0xc0
	 el0t_64_sync+0x1a4/0x1a8

'rb->aux_pages' allocated by kcalloc() is a pointer array which is used to
maintains AUX trace pages. The allocated page for this array is physically
contiguous (and virtually contiguous) with an order of 0..MAX_ORDER. If the
size of pointer array crosses the limitation set by MAX_ORDER, it reveals a
WARNING.

So bail out early with -ENOMEM if the request AUX area is out of bound,
e.g.:

    #perf record -C 0 -m ,4G -e arm_spe_0// -- sleep 1
    failed to mmap with 12 (Cannot allocate memory)

Weakness: CWE-129 (Improper Validation of Array Index)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52835?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52835?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52835 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52835 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-2023-52835 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52835 is a high-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-2023-52835 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-2023-52835/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52835/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52835
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52835
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52835

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52835/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.