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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-52638

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-04-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.15.149 / 6.1.79 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: can: j1939: prevent deadlock by changing j1939_socks_lock to rwlock The following 3 locks would race against each other, causing the deadlock situation in the Syzbot bug report: - j1939_socks_lock - active_session_list_lock - sk_session_queue_lock A reasonable fix is to change j1939_socks_lock to an rwlock, since in the rare situations where a write lock is required for the linked list that j1939_socks_lock is protecting, the code does not attempt to acquire any more locks. This would break the circular lock dependency, where, for example, the current thread already locks j1939_socks_lock and attempts to acquire sk_session_queue_lock, and at the same time, another thread attempts to acquire j1939_socks_lock while holding sk_session_queue_lock. NOTE: This patch along does not fix the unregister_netdevice bug reported by Syzbot; instead, it solves a deadlock situation to prepare for one or more further patches to actually fix the Syzbot bug, which appears to be a reference counting problem within the j1939 codebase. [mkl: remove unrelated newline change]

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 analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-667

Shared 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
Affected:< 5.15.149>= 5.16, < 6.1.79>= 6.2, < 6.6.18>= 6.7, < 6.7.6= 6.8

CVSS 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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.15.149 / 6.1.79 / 6.6.18 or later
Fixed in 5.15.1496.1.796.6.18
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.15.149, 6.1.79, 6.6.18, or 6.7.6 (depending on which branch you are on)

  1. Identify current kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Determine which branch the current kernel belongs to (e.g., 5.15.x, 6.1.x, 6.2-6.6.x, or 6.7.x)
  3. If on 5.15.x branch: upgrade to kernel >= 5.15.149
  4. If on 6.1.x branch: upgrade to kernel >= 6.1.79
  5. If on 6.2-6.6.x branch: upgrade to kernel >= 6.6.18
  6. If on 6.7.x branch: upgrade to kernel >= 6.7.6
  7. Reboot the system to apply the new kernel
  8. Verify the fix by running `uname -r` and confirming the version is patched
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebooting services; ensure compatibility with system drivers and modules before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-52638 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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