Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-52635

DoS in Linux Kernel ≤ 5.10.210

Published
02 April 2024
Modified
17 March 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0023 14th percentile
Risk Priority 42 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-52635 is a medium-severity Infinite Loop (CWE-835) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 14th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: PM / devfreq: Synchronize devfreq_monitor_[start/stop] There is a chance if a frequent switch of the governor done in a loop result in timer list corruption where timer cancel being done…

more

from two place one from cancel_delayed_work_sync() and followed by expire_timers() can be seen from the traces[1]. while true do echo "simple_ondemand" > /sys/class/devfreq/1d84000.ufshc/governor echo "performance" > /sys/class/devfreq/1d84000.ufshc/governor done It looks to be issue with devfreq driver where device_monitor_[start/stop] need to synchronized so that delayed work should get corrupted while it is either being queued or running or being cancelled. Let's use polling flag and devfreq lock to synchronize the queueing the timer instance twice and work data being corrupted. [1] ... .. <idle>-0 [003] 9436.209662: timer_cancel timer=0xffffff80444f0428 <idle>-0 [003] 9436.209664: timer_expire_entry timer=0xffffff80444f0428 now=0x10022da1c function=__typeid__ZTSFvP10timer_listE_global_addr baseclk=0x10022da1c <idle>-0 [003] 9436.209718: timer_expire_exit timer=0xffffff80444f0428 kworker/u16:6-14217 [003] 9436.209863: timer_start timer=0xffffff80444f0428 function=__typeid__ZTSFvP10timer_listE_global_addr expires=0x10022da2b now=0x10022da1c flags=182452227 vendor.xxxyyy.ha-1593 [004] 9436.209888: timer_cancel timer=0xffffff80444f0428 vendor.xxxyyy.ha-1593 [004] 9436.216390: timer_init timer=0xffffff80444f0428 vendor.xxxyyy.ha-1593 [004] 9436.216392: timer_start timer=0xffffff80444f0428 function=__typeid__ZTSFvP10timer_listE_global_addr expires=0x10022da2c now=0x10022da1d flags=186646532 vendor.xxxyyy.ha-1593 [005] 9436.220992: timer_cancel timer=0xffffff80444f0428 xxxyyyTraceManag-7795 [004] 9436.261641: timer_cancel timer=0xffffff80444f0428 [2] 9436.261653][ C4] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address dead00000000012a [ 9436.261664][ C4] Mem abort info: [ 9436.261666][ C4] ESR = 0x96000044 [ 9436.261669][ C4] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits [ 9436.261671][ C4] SET = 0, FnV = 0 [ 9436.261673][ C4] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 [ 9436.261675][ C4] Data abort info: [ 9436.261677][ C4] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000044 [ 9436.261680][ C4] CM = 0, WnR = 1 [ 9436.261682][ C4] [dead00000000012a] address between user and kernel address ranges [ 9436.261685][ C4] Internal error: Oops: 96000044 [#1] PREEMPT SMP [ 9436.261701][ C4] Skip md ftrace buffer dump for: 0x3a982d0 ... [ 9436.262138][ C4] CPU: 4 PID: 7795 Comm: TraceManag Tainted: G S W O 5.10.149-android12-9-o-g17f915d29d0c #1 [ 9436.262141][ C4] Hardware name: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (DT) [ 9436.262144][ C4] pstate: 22400085 (nzCv daIf +PAN -UAO +TCO BTYPE=--) [ 9436.262161][ C4] pc : expire_timers+0x9c/0x438 [ 9436.262164][ C4] lr : expire_timers+0x2a4/0x438 [ 9436.262168][ C4] sp : ffffffc010023dd0 [ 9436.262171][ C4] x29: ffffffc010023df0 x28: ffffffd0636fdc18 [ 9436.262178][ C4] x27: ffffffd063569dd0 x26: ffffffd063536008 [ 9436.262182][ C4] x25: 0000000000000001 x24: ffffff88f7c69280 [ 9436.262185][ C4] x23: 00000000000000e0 x22: dead000000000122 [ 9436.262188][ C4] x21: 000000010022da29 x20: ffffff8af72b4e80 [ 9436.262191][ C4] x19: ffffffc010023e50 x18: ffffffc010025038 [ 9436.262195][ C4] x17: 0000000000000240 x16: 0000000000000201 [ 9436.262199][ C4] x15: ffffffffffffffff x14: ffffff889f3c3100 [ 9436.262203][ C4] x13: ffffff889f3c3100 x12: 00000000049f56b8 [ 9436.262207][ C4] x11: 00000000049f56b8 x10: 00000000ffffffff [ 9436.262212][ C4] x9 : ffffffc010023e50 x8 : dead000000000122 [ 9436.262216][ C4] x7 : ffffffffffffffff x6 : ffffffc0100239d8 [ 9436.262220][ C4] x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000101 [ 9436.262223][ C4] x3 : 0000000000000080 x2 : ffffff8 ---truncated---

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

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CVE-2025-38344Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-39756Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-26839Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-36946Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-38300Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
≤ 5.10.210 · 5.11 — 5.15.149 · 5.16 — 6.1.77
debian
debian linux
10.0

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover unreachable loop exit conditions through static analysis, fuzzing, or execution tracing.

Flaw remediation processes identify and correct infinite-loop defects reported from testing or operations.

Requiring documented development processes and secure coding standards reduces introduction of loops whose termination conditions are unreachable.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices (reviews, testing, static analysis) directly prevent introduction of infinite-loop defects.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Static analysis and vuln scanning during asset assessment can detect unreachable loop exits.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing can uncover infinite-loop conditions before release.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that can detect and prevent infinite-loop defects.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify loop-termination rules, indirectly reducing the weakness.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly address loop termination and prevent infinite loops.

none

Secure architecture principles encourage designs that avoid unreachable exit conditions.

none

Change management can require review of loop logic when code is modified.

References