CVE-2023-53742

Published: August 12, 2025
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kcsan: Avoid READ_ONCE() in read_instrumented_memory() Haibo Li reported: | Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address | ffffff802a0d8d7171 | Mem abort info| ESR = 0x9600002121 | EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bitsts | SET = 0, FnV = 0 0 | EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 0 | FSC = 0x21: alignment fault | Data abort info| ISV = 0, ISS = 0x0000002121 | CM = 0, WnR = 0 0 | swapper pgtable: 4k pages, 39-bit VAs, pgdp=000000002835200000 | [ffffff802a0d8d71] pgd=180000005fbf9003, p4d=180000005fbf9003, | pud=180000005fbf9003, pmd=180000005fbe8003, pte=006800002a0d8707 | Internal error: Oops: 96000021 [#1] PREEMPT SMP | Modules linked in: | CPU: 2 PID: 45 Comm: kworker/u8:2 Not tainted | 5.15.78-android13-8-g63561175bbda-dirty #1 | ... | pc : kcsan_setup_watchpoint+0x26c/0x6bc | lr : kcsan_setup_watchpoint+0x88/0x6bc | sp : ffffffc00ab4b7f0 | x29: ffffffc00ab4b800 x28: ffffff80294fe588 x27: 0000000000000001 | x26: 0000000000000019 x25: 0000000000000001 x24: ffffff80294fdb80 | x23: 0000000000000000 x22: ffffffc00a70fb68 x21: ffffff802a0d8d71 | x20: 0000000000000002 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: ffffffc00a9bd060 | x17: 0000000000000001 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: ffffffc00a59f000 | x14: 0000000000000001 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: ffffffc00a70faa0 | x11: 00000000aaaaaaab x10: 0000000000000054 x9 : ffffffc00839adf8 | x8 : ffffffc009b4cf00 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000007 | x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : ffffffc00a70fb70 | x2 : 0005ff802a0d8d71 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 | Call trace: | kcsan_setup_watchpoint+0x26c/0x6bc | __tsan_read2+0x1f0/0x234 | inflate_fast+0x498/0x750 | zlib_inflate+0x1304/0x2384 | __gunzip+0x3a0/0x45c | gunzip+0x20/0x30 | unpack_to_rootfs+0x2a8/0x3fc | do_populate_rootfs+0xe8/0x11c | async_run_entry_fn+0x58/0x1bc | process_one_work+0x3ec/0x738 | worker_thread+0x4c4/0x838 | kthread+0x20c/0x258 | ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 | Code: b8bfc2a8 2a0803f7 14000007 d503249f (78bfc2a8) ) | ---[ end trace 613a943cb0a572b6 ]----- The reason for this is that on certain arm64 configuration since e35123d83ee3 ("arm64: lto: Strengthen READ_ONCE() to acquire when CONFIG_LTO=y"), READ_ONCE() may be promoted to a full atomic acquire instruction which cannot be used on unaligned addresses. Fix it by avoiding READ_ONCE() in read_instrumented_memory(), and simply forcing the compiler to do the required access by casting to the appropriate volatile type. In terms of generated code this currently only affects architectures that do not use the default READ_ONCE() implementation. The only downside is that we are not guaranteed atomicity of the access itself, although on most architectures a plain load up to machine word size should still be atomic (a fact the default READ_ONCE() still relies on itself).
Unknown
CVSS v2:

Status

DocFilters Release Package State Justification Comment
0.0.0.1 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
25.4 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
25.3 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
25.2 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
25.1.1 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
25.1 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
24.4 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
24.4.0 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
24.3 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
24.2.1 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
24.2 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
24.1 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
23.3 zlib (1.3) Needs Triage
23.2.1 zlib (1.2.12) Needs Triage
23.2 zlib (1.2.12) Needs Triage
23.1 zlib (1.2.12) Needs Triage
22.4 zlib (1.2.12) Needs Triage
22.3 zlib (1.2.12) Needs Triage
22.2 zlib (1.2.12) Needs Triage
22.1 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
21.11.1 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
21.11 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
21.8.1 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
21.8 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
21.5.1 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
21.5.0 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
21.2.0 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.20 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.19.3667 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.18.3599 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.17 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.16.3445 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.15.3368 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.14.3263 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.13.3179 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.12.3054 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.11.3040 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.11.2990 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.10.2934 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.9.2878 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage
11.4.8.2822 zlib (1.2.11) Needs Triage

Severity score breakdown

References