CVE-2023-53531
null_blk: fix poll request timeout handling
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 7.8 High
- Published
- Oct 1, 2025
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Reserved
- Oct 1, 2025
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
null_blk: fix poll request timeout handling
When doing io_uring benchmark on /dev/nullb0, it's easy to crash the kernel if poll requests timeout triggered, as reported by David. [1]
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008 Workqueue: kblockd blk_mq_timeout_work RIP: 0010:null_timeout_rq+0x4e/0x91 Call Trace: ? null_timeout_rq+0x4e/0x91 blk_mq_handle_expired+0x31/0x4b bt_iter+0x68/0x84 ? bt_tags_iter+0x81/0x81 __sbitmap_for_each_set.constprop.0+0xb0/0xf2 ? __blk_mq_complete_request_remote+0xf/0xf bt_for_each+0x46/0x64 ? __blk_mq_complete_request_remote+0xf/0xf ? percpu_ref_get_many+0xc/0x2a blk_mq_queue_tag_busy_iter+0x14d/0x18e blk_mq_timeout_work+0x95/0x127 process_one_work+0x185/0x263 worker_thread+0x1b5/0x227
This is indeed a race problem between null_timeout_rq() and null_poll().
null_poll() null_timeout_rq() spin_lock(&nq->poll_lock) list_splice_init(&nq->poll_list, &list) spin_unlock(&nq->poll_lock)
while (!list_empty(&list)) req = list_first_entry() list_del_init() ... blk_mq_add_to_batch() // req->rq_next = NULL spin_lock(&nq->poll_lock)
// rq->queuelist->next == NULL list_del_init(&rq->queuelist)
spin_unlock(&nq->poll_lock)
Fix these problems by setting requests state to MQ_RQ_COMPLETE under nq->poll_lock protection, in which null_timeout_rq() can safely detect this race and early return.
Note this patch just fix the kernel panic when request timeout happen.
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/3893581.1691785261@warthog.procyon.org.uk/
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 7.8 High | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H | Linux |
Weaknesses
The record names no weakness.
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
LinuxLinux |
|
LinuxLinux |
|
References
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