workqueue: fix data race with the pwq->stats[] increment
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: workqueue: fix data race with the pwq->stats[] increment KCSAN has discovered a data race in kernel/workqueue.c:2598: [ 1863.554079] ================================================================== [ 1863.554118] BUG: KCSAN: data-race in process_one_work / process_one_work [ 1863.554142] write to 0xffff963d99d79998 of 8 bytes by task 5394 on cpu 27: [ 1863.554154] process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:2598) [ 1863.554166] worker_thread (./include/linux/list.h:292 kernel/workqueue.c:2752) [ 1863.554177] kthread (kernel/kthread.c:389) [ 1863.554186] ret_from_fork (arch/x86/kernel/process.c:145) [ 1863.554197] ret_from_fork_asm (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:312) [ 1863.554213] read to 0xffff963d99d79998 of 8 bytes by task 5450 on cpu 12: [ 1863.554224] process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:2598) [ 1863.554235] worker_thread (./include/linux/list.h:292 kernel/workqueue.c:2752) [ 1863.554247] kthread (kernel/kthread.c:389) [ 1863.554255] ret_from_fork (arch/x86/kernel/process.c:145) [ 1863.554266] ret_from_fork_asm (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:312) [ 1863.554280] value changed: 0x0000000000001766 -> 0x000000000000176a [ 1863.554295] Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on: [ 1863.554303] CPU: 12 PID: 5450 Comm: kworker/u64:1 Tainted: G L 6.5.0-rc6+ #44 [ 1863.554314] Hardware name: ASRock X670E PG Lightning/X670E PG Lightning, BIOS 1.21 04/26/2023 [ 1863.554322] Workqueue: btrfs-endio btrfs_end_bio_work [btrfs] [ 1863.554941] ================================================================== lockdep_invariant_state(true); → pwq->stats[PWQ_STAT_STARTED]++; trace_workqueue_execute_start(work); worker->current_func(work); Moving pwq->stats[PWQ_STAT_STARTED]++; before the line raw_spin_unlock_irq(&pool->lock); resolves the data race without performance penalty. KCSAN detected at least one additional data race: [ 157.834751] ================================================================== [ 157.834770] BUG: KCSAN: data-race in process_one_work / process_one_work [ 157.834793] write to 0xffff9934453f77a0 of 8 bytes by task 468 on cpu 29: [ 157.834804] process_one_work (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/workqueue.c:2606) [ 157.834815] worker_thread (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/./include/linux/list.h:292 /home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/workqueue.c:2752) [ 157.834826] kthread (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/kthread.c:389) [ 157.834834] ret_from_fork (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/arch/x86/kernel/process.c:145) [ 157.834845] ret_from_fork_asm (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:312) [ 157.834859] read to 0xffff9934453f77a0 of 8 bytes by task 214 on cpu 7: [ 157.834868] process_one_work (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/workqueue.c:2606) [ 157.834879] worker_thread (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/./include/linux/list.h:292 /home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/workqueue.c:2752) [ 157.834890] kthread (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/kthread.c:389) [ 157.834897] ret_from_fork (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/arch/x86/kernel/process.c:145) [ 157.834907] ret_from_fork_asm (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:312) [ 157.834920] value changed: 0x000000000000052a -> 0x0000000000000532 [ 157.834933] Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on: [ 157.834941] CPU: 7 PID: 214 Comm: kworker/u64:2 Tainted: G L 6.5.0-rc7-kcsan-00169-g81eaf55a60fc #4 [ 157.834951] Hardware name: ASRock X670E PG Lightning/X670E PG Lightning, BIOS 1.21 04/26/2023 [ 157.834958] Workqueue: btrfs-endio btrfs_end_bio_work [btrfs] [ 157.835567] ================================================================== in code: trace_workqueue_execute_end(work, worker->current_func); → pwq->stats[PWQ_STAT_COM ---truncated---
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.5.3, 6.6
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-53329
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-8v8f-6c96-795r
References
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2023-53329 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-53329 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-8v8f-6c96-795r · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-53329 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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