# CVE-2023-53655: rcu: Avoid stack overflow due to __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick() being kprobe-ed

> A local attacker with root privileges can cause a kernel stack overflow and system crash by placing a kprobe on a specific RCU function.

- **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:** 7 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53655, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53655, GHSA-jw77-c2gh-pjqg, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53655

## What is CVE-2023-53655?

CVE-2023-53655 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 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:

rcu: Avoid stack overflow due to __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick() being kprobe-ed

Registering a kprobe on __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick() can cause kernel
stack overflow as shown below. This issue can be reproduced by enabling
CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL and booting the kernel with argument "nohz_full=",
and then giving the following commands at the shell prompt:

  # cd /sys/kernel/tracing/
  # echo 'p:mp1 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick' >> kprobe_events
  # echo 1 > events/kprobes/enable

This commit therefore adds __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick() to the kprobes
blacklist using NOKPROBE_SYMBOL().

Insufficient stack space to handle exception!
ESR: 0x00000000f2000004 -- BRK (AArch64)
FAR: 0x0000ffffccf3e510
Task stack:     [0xffff80000ad30000..0xffff80000ad38000]
IRQ stack:      [0xffff800008050000..0xffff800008058000]
Overflow stack: [0xffff089c36f9f310..0xffff089c36fa0310]
CPU: 5 PID: 190 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-00320-g1f5abbd77e2c #19
Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT)
pstate: 400003c5 (nZcv DAIF -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
pc : __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8
lr : ct_nmi_enter+0x11c/0x138
sp : ffff80000ad30080
x29: ffff80000ad30080 x28: ffff089c82e20000 x27: 0000000000000000
x26: 0000000000000000 x25: ffff089c02a8d100 x24: 0000000000000000
x23: 00000000400003c5 x22: 0000ffffccf3e510 x21: ffff089c36fae148
x20: ffff80000ad30120 x19: ffffa8da8fcce148 x18: 0000000000000000
x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: ffffa8da8e44ea6c
x14: ffffa8da8e44e968 x13: ffffa8da8e03136c x12: 1fffe113804d6809
x11: ffff6113804d6809 x10: 0000000000000a60 x9 : dfff800000000000
x8 : ffff089c026b404f x7 : 00009eec7fb297f7 x6 : 0000000000000001
x5 : ffff80000ad30120 x4 : dfff800000000000 x3 : ffffa8da8e3016f4
x2 : 0000000000000003 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000
Kernel panic - not syncing: kernel stack overflow
CPU: 5 PID: 190 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-00320-g1f5abbd77e2c #19
Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT)
Call trace:
 dump_backtrace+0xf8/0x108
 show_stack+0x20/0x30
 dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0x84
 dump_stack+0x1c/0x38
 panic+0x214/0x404
 add_taint+0x0/0xf8
 panic_bad_stack+0x144/0x160
 handle_bad_stack+0x38/0x58
 __bad_stack+0x78/0x7c
 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8
 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20
 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90
 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8
 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68
 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8
 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20
 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90
 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8
 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68
 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8
 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20
 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90
 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8
 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68
 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8
 [...]
 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90
 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8
 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68
 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8
 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20
 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90
 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8
 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68
 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8
 arm64_enter_el1_dbg.isra.0+0x14/0x20
 el1_dbg+0x2c/0x90
 el1h_64_sync_handler+0xcc/0xe8
 el1h_64_sync+0x64/0x68
 __rcu_irq_enter_check_tick+0x0/0x1b8
 el1_interrupt+0x28/0x60
 el1h_64_irq_handler+0x18/0x28
 el1h_64_irq+0x64/0x68
 __ftrace_set_clr_event_nolock+0x98/0x198
 __ftrace_set_clr_event+0x58/0x80
 system_enable_write+0x144/0x178
 vfs_write+0x174/0x738
 ksys_write+0xd0/0x188
 __arm64_sys_write+0x4c/0x60
 invoke_syscall+0x64/0x180
 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x84/0x160
 do_el0_svc+0x48/0xe8
 el0_svc+0x34/0xd0
 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xb8/0xc0
 el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194
SMP: stopping secondary CPUs
Kernel Offset: 0x28da86000000 from 0xffff800008000000
PHYS_OFFSET: 0xfffff76600000000
CPU features: 0x00000,01a00100,0000421b
Memory Limit: none

Weakness: CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53655?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53655?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53655 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53655 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-2023-53655 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53655 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 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-2023-53655 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-2023-53655/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53655/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53655
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53655
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53655

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53655/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.