CVE-2024-53052: io_uring/rw: fix missing NOWAIT check for O_DIRECT start write

Severity: medium (CVSS 4.4 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-11-19 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-667

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: io_uring/rw: fix missing NOWAIT check for O_DIRECT start write When io_uring starts a write, it'll call kiocb_start_write() to bump the super block rwsem, preventing any freezes from happening while that write is in-flight. The freeze side will grab that rwsem for writing, excluding any new writers from happening and waiting for existing writes to finish. But io_uring unconditionally uses kiocb_start_write(), which will block if someone is currently attempting to freeze the mount point. This causes a deadlock where freeze is waiting for previous writes to complete, but the previous writes cannot complete, as the task that is supposed to complete them is blocked waiting on starting a new write. This results in the following stuck trace showing that dependency with the write blocked starting a new write: task:fio state:D stack:0 pid:886 tgid:886 ppid:876 Call trace: __switch_to+0x1d8/0x348 __schedule+0x8e8/0x2248 schedule+0x110/0x3f0 percpu_rwsem_wait+0x1e8/0x3f8 __percpu_down_read+0xe8/0x500 io_write+0xbb8/0xff8 io_issue_sqe+0x10c/0x1020 io_submit_sqes+0x614/0x2110 __arm64_sys_io_uring_enter+0x524/0x1038 invoke_syscall+0x74/0x268 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x160/0x238 do_el0_svc+0x44/0x60 el0_svc+0x44/0xb0 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x118/0x128 el0t_64_sync+0x168/0x170 INFO: task fsfreeze:7364 blocked for more than 15 seconds. Not tainted 6.12.0-rc5-00063-g76aaf945701c #7963 with the attempting freezer stuck trying to grab the rwsem: task:fsfreeze state:D stack:0 pid:7364 tgid:7364 ppid:995 Call trace: __switch_to+0x1d8/0x348 __schedule+0x8e8/0x2248 schedule+0x110/0x3f0 percpu_down_write+0x2b0/0x680 freeze_super+0x248/0x8a8 do_vfs_ioctl+0x149c/0x1b18 __arm64_sys_ioctl+0xd0/0x1a0 invoke_syscall+0x74/0x268 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x160/0x238 do_el0_svc+0x44/0x60 el0_svc+0x44/0xb0 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x118/0x128 el0t_64_sync+0x168/0x170 Fix this by having the io_uring side honor IOCB_NOWAIT, and only attempt a blocking grab of the super block rwsem if it isn't set. For normal issue where IOCB_NOWAIT would always be set, this returns -EAGAIN which will have io_uring core issue a blocking attempt of the write. That will in turn also get completions run, ensuring forward progress. Since freezing requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN in the first place, this isn't something that can be triggered by a regular user.

Affected products

Linux kernel: before 5.10.230; from 5.11 before 5.15.172; from 5.16 before 6.1.116; from 6.2 before 6.6.60; from 6.7 before 6.11.7; 6.12-rc1, 6.12-rc2, 6.12-rc3, 6.12-rc4, 6.12-rc5 — fixed in 5.10.230, 5.15.172, 6.1.116, 6.11.7, 6.6.60

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.230, 5.15.172, 6.1.116, 6.11.7. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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