CVE-2023-53093 tracing: Do not let histogram values have some modifiers
A local attacker can trigger a kernel NULL pointer dereference and crash the system by configuring specific histogram modifiers in the tracing subsystem.
- 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-2023-53093?
CVE-2023-53093 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 May 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:
tracing: Do not let histogram values have some modifiers
Histogram values can not be strings, stacktraces, graphs, symbols, syscalls, or grouped in buckets or log. Give an error if a value is set to do so.
Note, the histogram code was not prepared to handle these modifiers for histograms and caused a bug.
Mark Rutland reported:
# echo 'p:copy_to_user __arch_copy_to_user n=$arg2' >> /sys/kernel/tracing/kprobe_events # echo 'hist:keys=n:vals=hitcount.buckets=8:sort=hitcount' > /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kprobes/copy_to_user/trigger # cat /sys/kernel/tracing/events/kprobes/copy_to_user/hist [ 143.694628] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000 [ 143.695190] Mem abort info: [ 143.695362] ESR = 0x0000000096000004 [ 143.695604] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits [ 143.695889] SET = 0, FnV = 0 [ 143.696077] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 [ 143.696302] FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault [ 143.702381] Data abort info: [ 143.702614] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004 [ 143.702832] CM = 0, WnR = 0 [ 143.703087] user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=00000000448f9000 [ 143.703407] [0000000000000000] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=0000000000000000 [ 143.704137] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] PREEMPT SMP [ 143.704714] Modules linked in: [ 143.705273] CPU: 0 PID: 133 Comm: cat Not tainted 6.2.0-00003-g6fc512c10a7c #3 [ 143.706138] Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) [ 143.706723] pstate: 80000005 (Nzcv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 143.707120] pc : hist_field_name.part.0+0x14/0x140 [ 143.707504] lr : hist_field_name.part.0+0x104/0x140 [ 143.707774] sp : ffff800008333a30 [ 143.707952] x29: ffff800008333a30 x28: 0000000000000001 x27: 0000000000400cc0 [ 143.708429] x26: ffffd7a653b20260 x25: 0000000000000000 x24: ffff10d303ee5800 [ 143.708776] x23: ffffd7a6539b27b0 x22: ffff10d303fb8c00 x21: 0000000000000001 [ 143.709127] x20: ffff10d303ec2000 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: 0000000000000000 [ 143.709478] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000000000000000 [ 143.709824] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 203a6f666e692072 x12: 6567676972742023 [ 143.710179] x11: 0a230a6d6172676f x10: 000000000000002c x9 : ffffd7a6521e018c [ 143.710584] x8 : 000000000000002c x7 : 7f7f7f7f7f7f7f7f x6 : 000000000000002c [ 143.710915] x5 : ffff10d303b0103e x4 : ffffd7a653b20261 x3 : 000000000000003d [ 143.711239] x2 : 0000000000020001 x1 : 0000000000000001 x0 : 0000000000000000 [ 143.711746] Call trace: [ 143.712115] hist_field_name.part.0+0x14/0x140 [ 143.712642] hist_field_name.part.0+0x104/0x140 [ 143.712925] hist_field_print+0x28/0x140 [ 143.713125] event_hist_trigger_print+0x174/0x4d0 [ 143.713348] hist_show+0xf8/0x980 [ 143.713521] seq_read_iter+0x1bc/0x4b0 [ 143.713711] seq_read+0x8c/0xc4 [ 143.713876] vfs_read+0xc8/0x2a4 [ 143.714043] ksys_read+0x70/0xfc [ 143.714218] __arm64_sys_read+0x24/0x30 [ 143.714400] invoke_syscall+0x50/0x120 [ 143.714587] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x4c/0x100 [ 143.714807] do_el0_svc+0x44/0xd0 [ 143.714970] el0_svc+0x2c/0x84 [ 143.715134] el0t_64_sync_handler+0xbc/0x140 [ 143.715334] el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 [ 143.715742] Code: a9bd7bfd 910003fd a90153f3 aa0003f3 (f9400000) [ 143.716510] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Segmentation fault
Weakness: CWE-476
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53093?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53093?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2023-53093 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53093 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-70135, BELL-CVE-2023-53093, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53093, GHSA-9q9g-hqj4-hvr5, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53093, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53093 and 1 more.