Vulnerability · Published Oct 1, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-53522cgroup,freezer: hold cpu_hotplug_lock before freezer_mutex

High 7.8

In plain English

A high-severity security flaw 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 5% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS NVD)7.8High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 95.4% 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: cgroup,freezer: hold cpu_hotplug_lock before freezer_mutex syzbot is reporting circular locking dependency between cpu_hotplug_lock and freezer_mutex, for commit f5d39b020809 ("freezer,sched: Rewrite core freezer logic") replaced atomic_inc() in freezer_apply_state() with static_branch_inc() which holds cpu_hotplug_lock. cpu_hotplug_lock => cgroup_threadgroup_rwsem => freezer_mutex cgroup_file_write() { cgroup_procs_write() { __cgroup_procs_write() { cgroup_procs_write_start() { cgroup_attach_lock() { cpus_read_lock() { percpu_down_read(&cpu_hotplug_lock); } percpu_down_write(&cgroup_threadgroup_rwsem); } } cgroup_attach_task() { cgroup_migrate() { cgroup_migrate_execute() { freezer_attach() { mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex); (...snipped...) } } } } (...snipped...) } } } freezer_mutex => cpu_hotplug_lock cgroup_file_write() { freezer_write() { freezer_change_state() { mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex); freezer_apply_state() { static_branch_inc(&freezer_active) { static_key_slow_inc() { cpus_read_lock(); static_key_slow_inc_cpuslocked(); cpus_read_unlock(); } } } mutex_unlock(&freezer_mutex); } } } Swap locking order by moving cpus_read_lock() in freezer_apply_state() to before mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex) in freezer_change_state().

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.25-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53522
Debian:13linux6.1.25-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53522
Debian:14linux6.1.25-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53522

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux f5d39b020809146cc28e6e73369bf8065e0310aa – before 3756171b97c307d9df8b8ded1d883eec30172085f5d39b020809146cc28e6e73369bf8065e0310aa – before 34fbb7b45bae20b551dda24337c7761ca13ce69df5d39b020809146cc28e6e73369bf8065e0310aa – before 57dcd64c7e036299ef526b400a8d12b8a2352f26
Linux Linux 6.1

References