# CVE-2023-53461: io_uring: wait interruptibly for request completions on exit

> A flaw in Linux kernel io_uring exit handling can trigger hung task detection, potentially causing a system crash if panic-on-hung-task is enabled.

- **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:** 1 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53461, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53461, GHSA-w27r-hww7-6vv2, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53461

## What is CVE-2023-53461?

CVE-2023-53461 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Oct 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:

io_uring: wait interruptibly for request completions on exit

WHen the ring exits, cleanup is done and the final cancelation and
waiting on completions is done by io_ring_exit_work. That function is
invoked by kworker, which doesn't take any signals. Because of that, it
doesn't really matter if we wait for completions in TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE
or TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE state. However, it does matter to the hung task
detection checker!

Normally we expect cancelations and completions to happen rather
quickly. Some test cases, however, will exit the ring and park the
owning task stopped (eg via SIGSTOP). If the owning task needs to run
task_work to complete requests, then io_ring_exit_work won't make any
progress until the task is runnable again. Hence io_ring_exit_work can
trigger the hung task detection, which is particularly problematic if
panic-on-hung-task is enabled.

As the ring exit doesn't take signals to begin with, have it wait
interruptibly rather than uninterruptibly. io_uring has a separate
stuck-exit warning that triggers independently anyway, so we're not
really missing anything by making this switch.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53461?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53461?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53461 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53461 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-2023-53461 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53461 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Oct 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-2023-53461 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-2023-53461/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53461/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53461
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53461
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53461

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53461/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.