# CVE-2023-54045: audit: fix possible soft lockup in __audit_inode_child()

> A local attacker can cause a kernel soft lockup and system crash by creating tracefs instances when audit logging is configured.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-54045, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54045, GHSA-857x-v7jh-w473, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54045

## What is CVE-2023-54045?

CVE-2023-54045 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 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:

audit: fix possible soft lockup in __audit_inode_child()

Tracefs or debugfs maybe cause hundreds to thousands of PATH records,
too many PATH records maybe cause soft lockup.

For example:
  1. CONFIG_KASAN=y && CONFIG_PREEMPTION=n
  2. auditctl -a exit,always -S open -k key
  3. sysctl -w kernel.watchdog_thresh=5
  4. mkdir /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/instances/test

There may be a soft lockup as follows:
  watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#45 stuck for 7s! [mkdir:15498]
  Kernel panic - not syncing: softlockup: hung tasks
  Call trace:
   dump_backtrace+0x0/0x30c
   show_stack+0x20/0x30
   dump_stack+0x11c/0x174
   panic+0x27c/0x494
   watchdog_timer_fn+0x2bc/0x390
   __run_hrtimer+0x148/0x4fc
   __hrtimer_run_queues+0x154/0x210
   hrtimer_interrupt+0x2c4/0x760
   arch_timer_handler_phys+0x48/0x60
   handle_percpu_devid_irq+0xe0/0x340
   __handle_domain_irq+0xbc/0x130
   gic_handle_irq+0x78/0x460
   el1_irq+0xb8/0x140
   __audit_inode_child+0x240/0x7bc
   tracefs_create_file+0x1b8/0x2a0
   trace_create_file+0x18/0x50
   event_create_dir+0x204/0x30c
   __trace_add_new_event+0xac/0x100
   event_trace_add_tracer+0xa0/0x130
   trace_array_create_dir+0x60/0x140
   trace_array_create+0x1e0/0x370
   instance_mkdir+0x90/0xd0
   tracefs_syscall_mkdir+0x68/0xa0
   vfs_mkdir+0x21c/0x34c
   do_mkdirat+0x1b4/0x1d4
   __arm64_sys_mkdirat+0x4c/0x60
   el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xa8/0x240
   do_el0_svc+0x8c/0xc0
   el0_svc+0x20/0x30
   el0_sync_handler+0xb0/0xb4
   el0_sync+0x160/0x180

Therefore, we add cond_resched() to __audit_inode_child() to fix it.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54045?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-54045?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-54045 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54045 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54045 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-54045 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 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-2023-54045 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2023-54045/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54045/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54045
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54045
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54045

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54045/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.