Vulnerability · Published Sep 18, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-53421blk-cgroup: Reinit blkg_iostat_set after clearing in blkcg_reset_stats()

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity null pointer dereference in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 6% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 94.2% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: blk-cgroup: Reinit blkg_iostat_set after clearing in blkcg_reset_stats() When blkg_alloc() is called to allocate a blkcg_gq structure with the associated blkg_iostat_set's, there are 2 fields within blkg_iostat_set that requires proper initialization - blkg & sync. The former field was introduced by commit 3b8cc6298724 ("blk-cgroup: Optimize blkcg_rstat_flush()") while the later one was introduced by commit f73316482977 ("blk-cgroup: reimplement basic IO stats using cgroup rstat"). Unfortunately those fields in the blkg_iostat_set's are not properly re-initialized when they are cleared in v1's blkcg_reset_stats(). This can lead to a kernel panic due to NULL pointer access of the blkg pointer. The missing initialization of sync is less problematic and can be a problem in a debug kernel due to missing lockdep initialization. Fix these problems by re-initializing them after memory clearing.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.162-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53421
Debian:12linux6.1.162-1DSA-6127-1
Debian:13linux6.4.4-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53421
Debian:14linux6.4.4-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-176.186UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-176.186USN-8180-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1105.112USN-8180-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1105.112UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure5.15.0-1110.119UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure5.15.0-1110.119USN-8180-3
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde5.15.0-1114.123UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1105.114USN-8180-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1105.114UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1101.107UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1101.107USN-8180-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1088.96USN-8180-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1088.96UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1099.102UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1099.102USN-8180-5
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1100.106UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1100.106USN-8180-3
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1097.102USN-8180-3
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1097.102UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-175.185USN-8180-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-175.185UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1100.101USN-8180-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1100.101UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1057.57UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1057.57USN-8187-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1046.46UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1046.46USN-8187-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1102.108USN-8180-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1102.108UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspi5.15.0-1099.102USN-8180-6
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspi5.15.0-1099.102UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1070.74USN-8275-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1070.74UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53421

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux f73316482977ac401ac37245c9df48079d4e11f3 – before 58c135513562698f222a58ba07dbdfcfb268aa0df73316482977ac401ac37245c9df48079d4e11f3 – before 0561aa6033dd181594116d705c41fc16e97161a2f73316482977ac401ac37245c9df48079d4e11f3 – before 892faa76be894d324bf48b12a55c7af7be2bad83f73316482977ac401ac37245c9df48079d4e11f3 – before b0d26283af612b9e0cc3188b0b88ad7fdea447e8f73316482977ac401ac37245c9df48079d4e11f3 – before abbce7f82613ea5eeefd0fc3c1c8e449b9cef2a2f73316482977ac401ac37245c9df48079d4e11f3 – before 3d2af77e31ade05ff7ccc3658c3635ec1bea0979
Linux Linux 5.5

Weakness: CWE-476 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

References