Use After Free in Linux

CVE-2023-53560

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing/histograms: Add histograms to hist_vars if they have referenced variables Hist triggers can have referenced variables without having direct variables fields. This can be the case if referenced variables are added for trigger actions. In this case the newly added references will not have field variables. Not taking such referenced variables into consideration can result in a bug where it would be possible to remove hist trigger with variables being refenced. This will result in a bug that is easily reproducable like so $ cd /sys/kernel/tracing $ echo 'synthetic_sys_enter char[] comm; long id' >> synthetic_events $ echo 'hist:keys=common_pid.execname,id.syscall:vals=hitcount:comm=common_pid.execname' >> events/raw_syscalls/sys_enter/trigger $ echo 'hist:keys=common_pid.execname,id.syscall:onmatch(raw_syscalls.sys_enter).synthetic_sys_enter($comm, id)' >> events/raw_syscalls/sys_enter/trigger $ echo '!hist:keys=common_pid.execname,id.syscall:vals=hitcount:comm=common_pid.execname' >> events/raw_syscalls/sys_enter/trigger [ 100.263533] ================================================================== [ 100.264634] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in resolve_var_refs+0xc7/0x180 [ 100.265520] Read of size 8 at addr ffff88810375d0f0 by task bash/439 [ 100.266320] [ 100.266533] CPU: 2 PID: 439 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.5.0-rc1 #4 [ 100.267277] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.0-20220807_005459-localhost 04/01/2014 [ 100.268561] Call Trace: [ 100.268902] <TASK> [ 100.269189] dump_stack_lvl+0x4c/0x70 [ 100.269680] print_report+0xc5/0x600 [ 100.270165] ? resolve_var_refs+0xc7/0x180 [ 100.270697] ? kasan_complete_mode_report_info+0x80/0x1f0 [ 100.271389] ? resolve_var_refs+0xc7/0x180 [ 100.271913] kasan_report+0xbd/0x100 [ 100.272380] ? resolve_var_refs+0xc7/0x180 [ 100.272920] __asan_load8+0x71/0xa0 [ 100.273377] resolve_var_refs+0xc7/0x180 [ 100.273888] event_hist_trigger+0x749/0x860 [ 100.274505] ? kasan_save_stack+0x2a/0x50 [ 100.275024] ? kasan_set_track+0x29/0x40 [ 100.275536] ? __pfx_event_hist_trigger+0x10/0x10 [ 100.276138] ? ksys_write+0xd1/0x170 [ 100.276607] ? do_syscall_64+0x3c/0x90 [ 100.277099] ? entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8 [ 100.277771] ? destroy_hist_data+0x446/0x470 [ 100.278324] ? event_hist_trigger_parse+0xa6c/0x3860 [ 100.278962] ? __pfx_event_hist_trigger_parse+0x10/0x10 [ 100.279627] ? __kasan_check_write+0x18/0x20 [ 100.280177] ? mutex_unlock+0x85/0xd0 [ 100.280660] ? __pfx_mutex_unlock+0x10/0x10 [ 100.281200] ? kfree+0x7b/0x120 [ 100.281619] ? ____kasan_slab_free+0x15d/0x1d0 [ 100.282197] ? event_trigger_write+0xac/0x100 [ 100.282764] ? __kasan_slab_free+0x16/0x20 [ 100.283293] ? __kmem_cache_free+0x153/0x2f0 [ 100.283844] ? sched_mm_cid_remote_clear+0xb1/0x250 [ 100.284550] ? __pfx_sched_mm_cid_remote_clear+0x10/0x10 [ 100.285221] ? event_trigger_write+0xbc/0x100 [ 100.285781] ? __kasan_check_read+0x15/0x20 [ 100.286321] ? __bitmap_weight+0x66/0xa0 [ 100.286833] ? _find_next_bit+0x46/0xe0 [ 100.287334] ? task_mm_cid_work+0x37f/0x450 [ 100.287872] event_triggers_call+0x84/0x150 [ 100.288408] trace_event_buffer_commit+0x339/0x430 [ 100.289073] ? ring_buffer_event_data+0x3f/0x60 [ 100.292189] trace_event_raw_event_sys_enter+0x8b/0xe0 [ 100.295434] syscall_trace_enter.constprop.0+0x18f/0x1b0 [ 100.298653] syscall_enter_from_user_mode+0x32/0x40 [ 100.301808] do_syscall_64+0x1a/0x90 [ 100.304748] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8 [ 100.307775] RIP: 0033:0x7f686c75c1cb [ 100.310617] Code: 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d 65 3c 10 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 83 c8 ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 90 f3 0f 1e fa b8 21 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d 35 3c 10 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 [ 100.317847] RSP: 002b:00007ffc60137a38 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000021 [ 100.321200] RA ---truncated---

Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.001 (3.5th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 3rd percentile — 3.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2023-53560: held from 0.001 to 0.001.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.001 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 067fe038e70f6e64960d26a79c4df5f1413d0f13, 4.17, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.5

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-53560?
CVE-2023-53560 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2025-10-04.
How severe is CVE-2023-53560?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.