vulnerability
Red Hat: CVE-2023-53421: kernel: blk-cgroup: Reinit blkg_iostat_set after clearing in blkcg_reset_stats() (Multiple Advisories)
| Severity | CVSS | Published | Added | Modified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | (AV:L/AC:L/Au:M/C:N/I:N/A:C) | Sep 18, 2025 | Nov 14, 2025 | Dec 12, 2025 |
Description
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.
Solutions
Explore Exposure Command
Confidently identify and prioritize exposures from endpoint to cloud with full attack surface visibility and threat-aware risk context.