Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2023-52486
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: drm: Don't unref the same fb many times by mistake due to deadlock handling If we get a deadlock after the fb lookup in drm_mode_page_flip_ioctl() we proceed to unref the fb and then retry the whole thing from the top. But we forget to reset the fb pointer back to NULL, and so if we then get another error during the retry, before the fb lookup, we proceed the unref the same fb again without having gotten another reference. The end result is that the fb will (eventually) end up being freed while it's still in use. Reset fb to NULL once we've unreffed it to avoid doing it again until we've done another fb lookup. This turned out to be pretty easy to hit on a DG2 when doing async flips (and CONFIG_DEBUG_WW_MUTEX_SLOWPATH=y). The first symptom I saw that drm_closefb() simply got stuck in a busy loop while walking the framebuffer list. Fortunately I was able to convince it to oops instead, and from there it was easier to track down the culprit.
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 analysisShared resources are accessed without correct locking, so concurrent operations interleave into inconsistent — and sometimes exploitable — states, or deadlock the service outright. These bugs are subtle and timing-dependent. The fix is correct, consistent locking or atomic operations around every shared resource.
General guidance for the improper locking 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
< 4.19.307>= 4.20, < 5.4.269>= 5.5, < 5.10.210>= 5.11, < 5.15.149>= 5.16, < 6.1.76>= 6.2, < 6.6.15>= 6.7, < 6.7.3CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 · scoped4.19.3075.4.2695.10.210
Upgrade to kernel 4.19.307, 5.4.269, 5.10.210, or 5.15.149 (or later stable releases in each respective branch)
- Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using 'uname -r'
- Locate the commit 376e21a9e4c2c63ee5d8d3aa74be5082c3882229 in the kernel source tree or obtain the equivalent patch
- Apply the fix: After the fb unref in the deadlock handling path of drm_mode_page_flip_ioctl(), ensure the fb pointer is reset to NULL to prevent double-unref on subsequent errors
- Alternatively, upgrade the kernel to one of the fixed versions: 4.19.307+, 5.4.269+, 5.10.210+, or 5.15.149+
- Reboot into the patched/updated kernel and verify the fix is active by checking the kernel version
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-2023-52486 — 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-2023-52486 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
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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