CVE-2023-52982 fscache: Use wait_on_bit() to wait for the freeing of relinquished volume
A mismatch in wait-queue functions causes the Linux kernel to hang indefinitely during volume acquisition, leading to a denial of service.
- 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-2023-52982?
CVE-2023-52982 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Mar 2025. 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:
fscache: Use wait_on_bit() to wait for the freeing of relinquished volume
The freeing of relinquished volume will wake up the pending volume acquisition by using wake_up_bit(), however it is mismatched with wait_var_event() used in fscache_wait_on_volume_collision() and it will never wake up the waiter in the wait-queue because these two functions operate on different wait-queues.
According to the implementation in fscache_wait_on_volume_collision(), if the wake-up of pending acquisition is delayed longer than 20 seconds (e.g., due to the delay of on-demand fd closing), the first wait_var_event_timeout() will timeout and the following wait_var_event() will hang forever as shown below:
FS-Cache: Potential volume collision new=00000024 old=00000022 ...... INFO: task mount:1148 blocked for more than 122 seconds. Not tainted 6.1.0-rc6+ #1 task:mount state:D stack:0 pid:1148 ppid:1 Call Trace: <TASK> __schedule+0x2f6/0xb80 schedule+0x67/0xe0 fscache_wait_on_volume_collision.cold+0x80/0x82 __fscache_acquire_volume+0x40d/0x4e0 erofs_fscache_register_volume+0x51/0xe0 [erofs] erofs_fscache_register_fs+0x19c/0x240 [erofs] erofs_fc_fill_super+0x746/0xaf0 [erofs] vfs_get_super+0x7d/0x100 get_tree_nodev+0x16/0x20 erofs_fc_get_tree+0x20/0x30 [erofs] vfs_get_tree+0x24/0xb0 path_mount+0x2fa/0xa90 do_mount+0x7c/0xa0 __x64_sys_mount+0x8b/0xe0 do_syscall_64+0x30/0x60 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0
Considering that wake_up_bit() is more selective, so fix it by using wait_on_bit() instead of wait_var_event() to wait for the freeing of relinquished volume. In addition because waitqueue_active() is used in wake_up_bit() and clear_bit() doesn't imply any memory barrier, use clear_and_wake_up_bit() to add the missing memory barrier between cursor->flags and waitqueue_active().
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52982?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-52982?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2023-52982 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52982 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-52982, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52982, GHSA-3cvm-96rv-2mw4, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52982.