# CVE-2023-54113: rcu: dump vmalloc memory info safely > A race condition in the Linux kernel RCU subsystem can cause a spinlock deadlock, leading to a system crash or denial of service. - **Severity:** Not scored - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** Not needed - **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-2023-54113, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54113, GHSA-qc6c-57rr-4q4v, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54113 ## What is CVE-2023-54113? CVE-2023-54113 is a 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: rcu: dump vmalloc memory info safely Currently, for double invoke call_rcu(), will dump rcu_head objects memory info, if the objects is not allocated from the slab allocator, the vmalloc_dump_obj() will be invoke and the vmap_area_lock spinlock need to be held, since the call_rcu() can be invoked in interrupt context, therefore, there is a possibility of spinlock deadlock scenarios. And in Preempt-RT kernel, the rcutorture test also trigger the following lockdep warning: BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/spinlock_rt.c:48 in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 1, non_block: 0, pid: 1, name: swapper/0 preempt_count: 1, expected: 0 RCU nest depth: 1, expected: 1 3 locks held by swapper/0/1: #0: ffffffffb534ee80 (fullstop_mutex){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: torture_init_begin+0x24/0xa0 #1: ffffffffb5307940 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: rcu_torture_init+0x1ec7/0x2370 #2: ffffffffb536af40 (vmap_area_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: find_vmap_area+0x1f/0x70 irq event stamp: 565512 hardirqs last enabled at (565511): [] __call_rcu_common+0x218/0x940 hardirqs last disabled at (565512): [] rcu_torture_init+0x20b2/0x2370 softirqs last enabled at (399112): [] __local_bh_enable_ip+0x126/0x170 softirqs last disabled at (399106): [] inet_register_protosw+0x9/0x1d0 Preemption disabled at: [] rcu_torture_init+0x1f13/0x2370 CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: G W 6.5.0-rc4-rt2-yocto-preempt-rt+ #15 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.16.2-0-gea1b7a073390-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Call Trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0xb0 dump_stack+0x14/0x20 __might_resched+0x1aa/0x280 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_err_cb+0x10/0x10 rt_spin_lock+0x53/0x130 ? find_vmap_area+0x1f/0x70 find_vmap_area+0x1f/0x70 vmalloc_dump_obj+0x20/0x60 mem_dump_obj+0x22/0x90 __call_rcu_common+0x5bf/0x940 ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x1b/0x30 call_rcu_hurry+0x14/0x20 rcu_torture_init+0x1f82/0x2370 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_leak_cb+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_leak_cb+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_init+0x10/0x10 do_one_initcall+0x6c/0x300 ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x1b/0x30 kernel_init_freeable+0x2b9/0x540 ? __pfx_kernel_init+0x10/0x10 kernel_init+0x1f/0x150 ret_from_fork+0x40/0x50 ? __pfx_kernel_init+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1b/0x30 The previous patch fixes this by using the deadlock-safe best-effort version of find_vm_area. However, in case of failure print the fact that the pointer was a vmalloc pointer so that we print at least something. ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54113? ## How do I fix CVE-2023-54113? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2023-54113 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54113 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2023-54113 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2023-54113 is a 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-2023-54113 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-2023-54113/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54113/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-54113 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-54113 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-54113 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-54113/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.