# CVE-2023-53216: arm64: efi: Make efi_rt_lock a raw_spinlock

> A locking bug in the Linux kernel arm64 EFI runtime services can cause a kernel panic on real-time kernels, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 15 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53216, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53216, GHSA-q98w-vcm8-j2qw, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53216

## What is CVE-2023-53216?

CVE-2023-53216 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 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:

arm64: efi: Make efi_rt_lock a raw_spinlock

Running a rt-kernel base on 6.2.0-rc3-rt1 on an Ampere Altra outputs
the following:
  BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/spinlock_rt.c:46
  in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 0, non_block: 0, pid: 9, name: kworker/u320:0
  preempt_count: 2, expected: 0
  RCU nest depth: 0, expected: 0
  3 locks held by kworker/u320:0/9:
  #0: ffff3fff8c27d128 ((wq_completion)efi_rts_wq){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work (./include/linux/atomic/atomic-long.h:41)
  #1: ffff80000861bdd0 ((work_completion)(&efi_rts_work.work)){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work (./include/linux/atomic/atomic-long.h:41)
  #2: ffffdf7e1ed3e460 (efi_rt_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: efi_call_rts (drivers/firmware/efi/runtime-wrappers.c:101)
  Preemption disabled at:
  efi_virtmap_load (./arch/arm64/include/asm/mmu_context.h:248)
  CPU: 0 PID: 9 Comm: kworker/u320:0 Tainted: G        W          6.2.0-rc3-rt1
  Hardware name: WIWYNN Mt.Jade Server System B81.03001.0005/Mt.Jade Motherboard, BIOS 1.08.20220218 (SCP: 1.08.20220218) 2022/02/18
  Workqueue: efi_rts_wq efi_call_rts
  Call trace:
  dump_backtrace (arch/arm64/kernel/stacktrace.c:158)
  show_stack (arch/arm64/kernel/stacktrace.c:165)
  dump_stack_lvl (lib/dump_stack.c:107 (discriminator 4))
  dump_stack (lib/dump_stack.c:114)
  __might_resched (kernel/sched/core.c:10134)
  rt_spin_lock (kernel/locking/rtmutex.c:1769 (discriminator 4))
  efi_call_rts (drivers/firmware/efi/runtime-wrappers.c:101)
  [...]

This seems to come from commit ff7a167961d1 ("arm64: efi: Execute
runtime services from a dedicated stack") which adds a spinlock. This
spinlock is taken through:
efi_call_rts()
\-efi_call_virt()
  \-efi_call_virt_pointer()
    \-arch_efi_call_virt_setup()

Make 'efi_rt_lock' a raw_spinlock to avoid being preempted.

[ardb: The EFI runtime services are called with a different set of
       translation tables, and are permitted to use the SIMD registers.
       The context switch code preserves/restores neither, and so EFI
       calls must be made with preemption disabled, rather than only
       disabling migration.]

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53216?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53216?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53216 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53216 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-2023-53216 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53216 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 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-2023-53216 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-2023-53216/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53216/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53216
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53216
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53216

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53216/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.