# CVE-2023-53031: powerpc/imc-pmu: Fix use of mutex in IRQs disabled section > A race condition in the Linux kernel's powerpc IMC PMU driver causes a kernel warning and potential crash when using mutexes in IRQ-disabled sections. - **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:** 27 Mar 2025 - **Updated:** 11 May 2026 - **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53031, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53031, GHSA-jph2-wv5j-5w33, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53031 ## What is CVE-2023-53031? CVE-2023-53031 is a medium-severity 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: powerpc/imc-pmu: Fix use of mutex in IRQs disabled section Current imc-pmu code triggers a WARNING with CONFIG_DEBUG_ATOMIC_SLEEP and CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING enabled, while running a thread_imc event. Command to trigger the warning: # perf stat -e thread_imc/CPM_CS_FROM_L4_MEM_X_DPTEG/ sleep 5 Performance counter stats for 'sleep 5': 0 thread_imc/CPM_CS_FROM_L4_MEM_X_DPTEG/ 5.002117947 seconds time elapsed 0.000131000 seconds user 0.001063000 seconds sys Below is snippet of the warning in dmesg: BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:580 in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 1, non_block: 0, pid: 2869, name: perf-exec preempt_count: 2, expected: 0 4 locks held by perf-exec/2869: #0: c00000004325c540 (&sig->cred_guard_mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: bprm_execve+0x64/0xa90 #1: c00000004325c5d8 (&sig->exec_update_lock){++++}-{3:3}, at: begin_new_exec+0x460/0xef0 #2: c0000003fa99d4e0 (&cpuctx_lock){-...}-{2:2}, at: perf_event_exec+0x290/0x510 #3: c000000017ab8418 (&ctx->lock){....}-{2:2}, at: perf_event_exec+0x29c/0x510 irq event stamp: 4806 hardirqs last enabled at (4805): [] _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x94/0xd0 hardirqs last disabled at (4806): [] perf_event_exec+0x394/0x510 softirqs last enabled at (0): [] copy_process+0xc34/0x1ff0 softirqs last disabled at (0): [<0000000000000000>] 0x0 CPU: 36 PID: 2869 Comm: perf-exec Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-00011-g1247637727f2 #61 Hardware name: 8375-42A POWER9 0x4e1202 opal:v7.0-16-g9b85f7d961 PowerNV Call Trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x98/0xe0 (unreliable) __might_resched+0x2f8/0x310 __mutex_lock+0x6c/0x13f0 thread_imc_event_add+0xf4/0x1b0 event_sched_in+0xe0/0x210 merge_sched_in+0x1f0/0x600 visit_groups_merge.isra.92.constprop.166+0x2bc/0x6c0 ctx_flexible_sched_in+0xcc/0x140 ctx_sched_in+0x20c/0x2a0 ctx_resched+0x104/0x1c0 perf_event_exec+0x340/0x510 begin_new_exec+0x730/0xef0 load_elf_binary+0x3f8/0x1e10 ... do not call blocking ops when !TASK_RUNNING; state=2001 set at [<00000000fd63e7cf>] do_nanosleep+0x60/0x1a0 WARNING: CPU: 36 PID: 2869 at kernel/sched/core.c:9912 __might_sleep+0x9c/0xb0 CPU: 36 PID: 2869 Comm: sleep Tainted: G W 6.2.0-rc2-00011-g1247637727f2 #61 Hardware name: 8375-42A POWER9 0x4e1202 opal:v7.0-16-g9b85f7d961 PowerNV NIP: c000000000194a1c LR: c000000000194a18 CTR: c000000000a78670 REGS: c00000004d2134e0 TRAP: 0700 Tainted: G W (6.2.0-rc2-00011-g1247637727f2) MSR: 9000000000021033 CR: 48002824 XER: 00000000 CFAR: c00000000013fb64 IRQMASK: 1 The above warning triggered because the current imc-pmu code uses mutex lock in interrupt disabled sections. The function mutex_lock() internally calls __might_resched(), which will check if IRQs are disabled and in case IRQs are disabled, it will trigger the warning. Fix the issue by changing the mutex lock to spinlock. [mpe: Fix comments, trim oops in change log, add reported-by tags] Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53031? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2023-53031? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2023-53031 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53031 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-2023-53031 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2023-53031 is a medium-severity 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. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53031 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-2023-53031/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53031/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53031 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53031 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53031 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53031/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.