# CVE-2023-53668: ring-buffer: Fix deadloop issue on reading trace_pipe

> A local attacker can cause a CPU soft lockup and system hang by reading the trace_pipe file due to an infinite loop in the ring buffer logic.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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-2023-53668, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53668, GHSA-r233-79v5-5734, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53668

## What is CVE-2023-53668?

CVE-2023-53668 is a high-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:

ring-buffer: Fix deadloop issue on reading trace_pipe

Soft lockup occurs when reading file 'trace_pipe':

  watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#6 stuck for 22s! [cat:4488]
  [...]
  RIP: 0010:ring_buffer_empty_cpu+0xed/0x170
  RSP: 0018:ffff88810dd6fc48 EFLAGS: 00000246
  RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000246 RCX: ffffffff93d1aaeb
  RDX: ffff88810a280040 RSI: 0000000000000008 RDI: ffff88811164b218
  RBP: ffff88811164b218 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffff88815156600f
  R10: ffffed102a2acc01 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: 0000000051651901
  R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff888115e49500 R15: 0000000000000000
  [...]
  CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
  CR2: 00007f8d853c2000 CR3: 000000010dcd8000 CR4: 00000000000006e0
  DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
  DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
  Call Trace:
   __find_next_entry+0x1a8/0x4b0
   ? peek_next_entry+0x250/0x250
   ? down_write+0xa5/0x120
   ? down_write_killable+0x130/0x130
   trace_find_next_entry_inc+0x3b/0x1d0
   tracing_read_pipe+0x423/0xae0
   ? tracing_splice_read_pipe+0xcb0/0xcb0
   vfs_read+0x16b/0x490
   ksys_read+0x105/0x210
   ? __ia32_sys_pwrite64+0x200/0x200
   ? switch_fpu_return+0x108/0x220
   do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x61/0xc6

Through the vmcore, I found it's because in tracing_read_pipe(),
ring_buffer_empty_cpu() found some buffer is not empty but then it
cannot read anything due to "rb_num_of_entries() == 0" always true,
Then it infinitely loop the procedure due to user buffer not been
filled, see following code path:

  tracing_read_pipe() {
    ... ...
    waitagain:
      tracing_wait_pipe() // 1. find non-empty buffer here
      trace_find_next_entry_inc()  // 2. loop here try to find an entry
        __find_next_entry()
          ring_buffer_empty_cpu();  // 3. find non-empty buffer
          peek_next_entry()  // 4. but peek always return NULL
            ring_buffer_peek()
              rb_buffer_peek()
                rb_get_reader_page()
                  // 5. because rb_num_of_entries() == 0 always true here
                  //    then return NULL
      // 6. user buffer not been filled so goto 'waitgain'
      //    and eventually leads to an deadloop in kernel!!!
  }

By some analyzing, I found that when resetting ringbuffer, the 'entries'
of its pages are not all cleared (see rb_reset_cpu()). Then when reducing
the ringbuffer, and if some reduced pages exist dirty 'entries' data, they
will be added into 'cpu_buffer->overrun' (see rb_remove_pages()), which
cause wrong 'overrun' count and eventually cause the deadloop issue.

To fix it, we need to clear every pages in rb_reset_cpu().

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53668?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53668?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53668 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53668 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-2023-53668 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53668 is a high-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-2023-53668 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-2023-53668/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53668/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53668
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53668
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53668

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53668/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.