CVE-2024-53160 rcu/kvfree: Fix data-race in __mod_timer / kvfree_call_rcu

What is CVE-2024-53160?

CVE-2024-53160 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Dec 2024. 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/kvfree: Fix data-race in __mod_timer / kvfree_call_rcu

KCSAN reports a data race when access the krcp->monitor_work.timer.expires variable in the schedule_delayed_monitor_work() function:

<snip> BUG: KCSAN: data-race in __mod_timer / kvfree_call_rcu

read to 0xffff888237d1cce8 of 8 bytes by task 10149 on cpu 1: schedule_delayed_monitor_work kernel/rcu/tree.c:3520 [inline] kvfree_call_rcu+0x3b8/0x510 kernel/rcu/tree.c:3839 trie_update_elem+0x47c/0x620 kernel/bpf/lpm_trie.c:441 bpf_map_update_value+0x324/0x350 kernel/bpf/syscall.c:203 generic_map_update_batch+0x401/0x520 kernel/bpf/syscall.c:1849 bpf_map_do_batch+0x28c/0x3f0 kernel/bpf/syscall.c:5143 __sys_bpf+0x2e5/0x7a0 __do_sys_bpf kernel/bpf/syscall.c:5741 [inline] __se_sys_bpf kernel/bpf/syscall.c:5739 [inline] __x64_sys_bpf+0x43/0x50 kernel/bpf/syscall.c:5739 x64_sys_call+0x2625/0x2d60 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_64.h:322 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xc9/0x1c0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

write to 0xffff888237d1cce8 of 8 bytes by task 56 on cpu 0: __mod_timer+0x578/0x7f0 kernel/time/timer.c:1173 add_timer_global+0x51/0x70 kernel/time/timer.c:1330 __queue_delayed_work+0x127/0x1a0 kernel/workqueue.c:2523 queue_delayed_work_on+0xdf/0x190 kernel/workqueue.c:2552 queue_delayed_work include/linux/workqueue.h:677 [inline] schedule_delayed_monitor_work kernel/rcu/tree.c:3525 [inline] kfree_rcu_monitor+0x5e8/0x660 kernel/rcu/tree.c:3643 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3229 [inline] process_scheduled_works+0x483/0x9a0 kernel/workqueue.c:3310 worker_thread+0x51d/0x6f0 kernel/workqueue.c:3391 kthread+0x1d1/0x210 kernel/kthread.c:389 ret_from_fork+0x4b/0x60 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:147 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:244

Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on: CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 56 Comm: kworker/u8:4 Not tainted 6.12.0-rc2-syzkaller-00050-g5b7c893ed5ed #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 09/13/2024 Workqueue: events_unbound kfree_rcu_monitor <snip>

kfree_rcu_monitor() rearms the work if a "krcp" has to be still offloaded and this is done without holding krcp->lock, whereas the kvfree_call_rcu() holds it.

Fix it by acquiring the "krcp->lock" for kfree_rcu_monitor() so both functions do not race anymore.

Weakness: CWE-362

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-53160?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2024-53160?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2024-53160 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-53160 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2024-53160, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-53160, GHSA-cxq4-g7mm-8h76, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53160.