Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm: fix zswap writeback race...
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mm: fix zswap writeback race condition
The zswap writeback mechanism can cause a race condition resulting in
memory corruption, where a swapped out page gets swapped in with data that
was written to a different page.
The race unfolds like this:
- a page with data A and swap offset X is stored in zswap
- page A is removed off the LRU by zpool driver for writeback in
zswap-shrink work, data for A is mapped by zpool driver - user space program faults and invalidates page entry A, offset X is
considered free - kswapd stores page B at offset X in zswap (zswap could also be
full, if so, page B would then be IOed to X, then skip step 5.) - entry A is replaced by B in tree->rbroot, this doesn't affect the
local reference held by zswap-shrink work - zswap-shrink work writes back A at X, and frees zswap entry A
- swapin of slot X brings A in memory instead of B
The fix:
Once the swap page cache has been allocated (case ZSWAP_SWAPCACHE_NEW),
zswap-shrink work just checks that the local zswap_entry reference is
still the same as the one in the tree. If it's not the same it means that
it's either been invalidated or replaced, in both cases the writeback is
aborted because the local entry contains stale data.
Reproducer:
I originally found this by running stress overnight to validate my work
on the zswap writeback mechanism, it manifested after hours on my test
machine. The key to make it happen is having zswap writebacks, so
whatever setup pumps /sys/kernel/debug/zswap/written_back_pages should do
the trick.
In order to reproduce this faster on a vm, I setup a system with ~100M of
available memory and a 500M swap file, then running stress --vm 1 --vm-bytes 300000000 --vm-stride 4000 makes it happen in matter of tens
of minutes. One can speed things up even more by swinging
/sys/module/zswap/parameters/max_pool_percent up and down between, say, 20
and 1; this makes it reproduce in tens of seconds. It's crucial to set--vm-stride to something other than 4096 otherwise stress won't
realize that memory has been corrupted because all pages would have the
same data.
Impact
Multiple concurrent operations access a shared resource without proper synchronization, producing unpredictable results depending on timing. Typical impact: TOCTOU exploits, data corruption, or privilege escalation.
CVE-2023-53178 has a CVSS score of 4.7 (Medium). The vector is requires local access, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. No fixed version is listed yet, so configuration controls and monitoring matter more in the interim.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-53178? CVE-2023-53178 is a medium-severity race condition vulnerability. No fixed version is listed yet. Multiple concurrent operations access a shared resource without proper synchronization, producing unpredictable results depending on timing.
- How severe is CVE-2023-53178? CVE-2023-53178 has a CVSS score of 4.7 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-53178? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2023-53178 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
- Is CVE-2023-53178 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-53178 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2023-53178 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.