Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2023-52438
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: binder: fix use-after-free in shinker's callback The mmap read lock is used during the shrinker's callback, which means that using alloc->vma pointer isn't safe as it can race with munmap(). As of commit dd2283f2605e ("mm: mmap: zap pages with read mmap_sem in munmap") the mmap lock is downgraded after the vma has been isolated. I was able to reproduce this issue by manually adding some delays and triggering page reclaiming through the shrinker's debug sysfs. The following KASAN report confirms the UAF: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in zap_page_range_single+0x470/0x4b8 Read of size 8 at addr ffff356ed50e50f0 by task bash/478 CPU: 1 PID: 478 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.6.0-rc5-00055-g1c8b86a3799f-dirty #70 Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) Call trace: zap_page_range_single+0x470/0x4b8 binder_alloc_free_page+0x608/0xadc __list_lru_walk_one+0x130/0x3b0 list_lru_walk_node+0xc4/0x22c binder_shrink_scan+0x108/0x1dc shrinker_debugfs_scan_write+0x2b4/0x500 full_proxy_write+0xd4/0x140 vfs_write+0x1ac/0x758 ksys_write+0xf0/0x1dc __arm64_sys_write+0x6c/0x9c Allocated by task 492: kmem_cache_alloc+0x130/0x368 vm_area_alloc+0x2c/0x190 mmap_region+0x258/0x18bc do_mmap+0x694/0xa60 vm_mmap_pgoff+0x170/0x29c ksys_mmap_pgoff+0x290/0x3a0 __arm64_sys_mmap+0xcc/0x144 Freed by task 491: kmem_cache_free+0x17c/0x3c8 vm_area_free_rcu_cb+0x74/0x98 rcu_core+0xa38/0x26d4 rcu_core_si+0x10/0x1c __do_softirq+0x2fc/0xd24 Last potentially related work creation: __call_rcu_common.constprop.0+0x6c/0xba0 call_rcu+0x10/0x1c vm_area_free+0x18/0x24 remove_vma+0xe4/0x118 do_vmi_align_munmap.isra.0+0x718/0xb5c do_vmi_munmap+0xdc/0x1fc __vm_munmap+0x10c/0x278 __arm64_sys_munmap+0x58/0x7c Fix this issue by performing instead a vma_lookup() which will fail to find the vma that was isolated before the mmap lock downgrade. Note that this option has better performance than upgrading to a mmap write lock which would increase contention. Plus, mmap_write_trylock() has been recently removed anyway.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisMemory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.
General guidance for the use after free class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
>= 4.20.0, < 5.4.268>= 5.5.0, < 5.10.209>= 5.11.0, < 5.15.148>= 5.16.0, < 6.1.74>= 6.2.0, < 6.6.13>= 6.7.0, < 6.7.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped5.4.2685.10.2095.15.148
5.4.268 / 5.10.209 / 5.15.148 / 6.1.74 (depending on which stable branch is in use)
- Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 5.4.268 or later for the 5.4.x stable branch
- OR upgrade to version 5.10.209 or later for the 5.10.x stable branch
- OR upgrade to version 5.15.148 or later for the 5.15.x stable branch
- OR upgrade to version 6.1.74 or later for the 6.1.x stable branch
- After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-52438 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-52438 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
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