CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-53421 — Linux Linux Kernel security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 5.5

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: blk-cgroup: Reinit blkg_iostat_set after clearing in blkcg_reset_stats() When blkg_alloc() is called to allocate a blkcg_gq structure with the associated blkg_iostat_set's, there are 2 fields within blkg_iostat_set that requires proper initialization - blkg & sync. The former field was introduced by commit 3b8cc6298724 ("blk-cgroup: Optimize blkcg_rstat_flush()") while the later one was introduced by commit f73316482977 ("blk-cgroup: reimplement basic IO stats using cgroup rstat"). Unfortunately those fields in the blkg_iostat_set's are not properly re-initialized when they are cleared in v1's blkcg_reset_stats(). This can lead to a kernel panic due to NULL pointer access of the blkg pointer. The missing initialization of sync is less problematic and can be a problem in a debug kernel due to missing lockdep initialization. Fix these problems by re-initializing them after memory clearing.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.5 (3.1)
Published
2025-09-18
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
linux/kernel
Weaknesses
CWE-476

Affected products

  • linux / linux_kernel

Showing 1 representative product identities from 2 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

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Check exposure

  • Identify affected native-code versions, build flags, architectures, parsers, codecs, drivers, and input paths in all shipped artifacts.
  • Determine whether untrusted data reaches the affected routine and the process privilege, sandbox, and network exposure.
  • Confirm statically linked, vendored, firmware, and platform-provided copies, not only package-manager records.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained upstream correction or replace the affected component, then rebuild every dependent artifact from clean inputs.
  • Adopt bounds-checked interfaces, validated sizes and integer conversions, clear ownership, and memory-safe components where practical.
  • Enable supported compiler and runtime hardening and add sanitized tests and fuzz regression seeds derived from non-weaponized fixtures.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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