Vulnerability · Published Dec 30, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-54316refscale: Fix uninitalized use of wait_queue_head_t

Unrated

In plain English

A 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 9% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS )–Not rated
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 91.2% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: refscale: Fix uninitalized use of wait_queue_head_t Running the refscale test occasionally crashes the kernel with the following error: [ 8569.952896] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffffffffffffe8 [ 8569.952900] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 8569.952902] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 8569.952904] PGD c4b048067 P4D c4b049067 PUD c4b04b067 PMD 0 [ 8569.952910] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT_RT SMP NOPTI [ 8569.952916] Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R750/0WMWCR, BIOS 1.2.4 05/28/2021 [ 8569.952917] RIP: 0010:prepare_to_wait_event+0x101/0x190 : [ 8569.952940] Call Trace: [ 8569.952941] <TASK> [ 8569.952944] ref_scale_reader+0x380/0x4a0 [refscale] [ 8569.952959] kthread+0x10e/0x130 [ 8569.952966] ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 [ 8569.952973] </TASK> The likely cause is that init_waitqueue_head() is called after the call to the torture_create_kthread() function that creates the ref_scale_reader kthread. Although this init_waitqueue_head() call will very likely complete before this kthread is created and starts running, it is possible that the calling kthread will be delayed between the calls to torture_create_kthread() and init_waitqueue_head(). In this case, the new kthread will use the waitqueue head before it is properly initialized, which is not good for the kernel's health and well-being. The above crash happened here: static inline void __add_wait_queue(...) { : if (!(wq->flags & WQ_FLAG_PRIORITY)) <=== Crash here The offset of flags from list_head entry in wait_queue_entry is -0x18. If reader_tasks[i].wq.head.next is NULL as allocated reader_task structure is zero initialized, the instruction will try to access address 0xffffffffffffffe8, which is exactly the fault address listed above. This commit therefore invokes init_waitqueue_head() before creating the kthread.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.55-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54316
Debian:13linux6.5.3-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54316
Debian:14linux6.5.3-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-94.104UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1053.58UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure5.15.0-1056.64UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde5.15.0-1056.64.1UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1051.59UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1050.55UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1036.42UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1046.49UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1047.53UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1050.55UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-94.104UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1044.44UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1022.22UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1009.9UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1051.57UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspi5.15.0-1046.49UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1027.31UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54316

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023 – before 066fbd8bc981cf49923bf828b7b4092894df577f653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023 – before ec9d118ad99dc6f1bc674c1e649c25533d89b9ba653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023 – before e0322a255a2242dbe4686b6176b3c83dea490529653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023 – before e5de968a9032366198720eac4f368ed7e690b3ef653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023 – before 70a2856fd1d0a040c876ba9e3f89b949ae92e4dd653ed64b01dc5989f8f579d0038e987476c2c023 – before f5063e8948dad7f31adb007284a5d5038ae31bb8
Linux Linux 5.9

References