CVE-2023-53215
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
BaseFortify

Publication date: 2025-09-15

Last updated on: 2025-12-03

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sched/fair: Don't balance task to its current running CPU We've run into the case that the balancer tries to balance a migration disabled task and trigger the warning in set_task_cpu() like below: ------------[ cut here ]------------ WARNING: CPU: 7 PID: 0 at kernel/sched/core.c:3115 set_task_cpu+0x188/0x240 Modules linked in: hclgevf xt_CHECKSUM ipt_REJECT nf_reject_ipv4 <...snip> CPU: 7 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/7 Kdump: loaded Tainted: G O 6.1.0-rc4+ #1 Hardware name: Huawei TaiShan 2280 V2/BC82AMDC, BIOS 2280-V2 CS V5.B221.01 12/09/2021 pstate: 604000c9 (nZCv daIF +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : set_task_cpu+0x188/0x240 lr : load_balance+0x5d0/0xc60 sp : ffff80000803bc70 x29: ffff80000803bc70 x28: ffff004089e190e8 x27: ffff004089e19040 x26: ffff007effcabc38 x25: 0000000000000000 x24: 0000000000000001 x23: ffff80000803be84 x22: 000000000000000c x21: ffffb093e79e2a78 x20: 000000000000000c x19: ffff004089e19040 x18: 0000000000000000 x17: 0000000000001fad x16: 0000000000000030 x15: 0000000000000000 x14: 0000000000000003 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000 x11: 0000000000000001 x10: 0000000000000400 x9 : ffffb093e4cee530 x8 : 00000000fffffffe x7 : 0000000000ce168a x6 : 000000000000013e x5 : 00000000ffffffe1 x4 : 0000000000000001 x3 : 0000000000000b2a x2 : 0000000000000b2a x1 : ffffb093e6d6c510 x0 : 0000000000000001 Call trace: set_task_cpu+0x188/0x240 load_balance+0x5d0/0xc60 rebalance_domains+0x26c/0x380 _nohz_idle_balance.isra.0+0x1e0/0x370 run_rebalance_domains+0x6c/0x80 __do_softirq+0x128/0x3d8 ____do_softirq+0x18/0x24 call_on_irq_stack+0x2c/0x38 do_softirq_own_stack+0x24/0x3c __irq_exit_rcu+0xcc/0xf4 irq_exit_rcu+0x18/0x24 el1_interrupt+0x4c/0xe4 el1h_64_irq_handler+0x18/0x2c el1h_64_irq+0x74/0x78 arch_cpu_idle+0x18/0x4c default_idle_call+0x58/0x194 do_idle+0x244/0x2b0 cpu_startup_entry+0x30/0x3c secondary_start_kernel+0x14c/0x190 __secondary_switched+0xb0/0xb4 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Further investigation shows that the warning is superfluous, the migration disabled task is just going to be migrated to its current running CPU. This is because that on load balance if the dst_cpu is not allowed by the task, we'll re-select a new_dst_cpu as a candidate. If no task can be balanced to dst_cpu we'll try to balance the task to the new_dst_cpu instead. In this case when the migration disabled task is not on CPU it only allows to run on its current CPU, load balance will select its current CPU as new_dst_cpu and later triggers the warning above. The new_dst_cpu is chosen from the env->dst_grpmask. Currently it contains CPUs in sched_group_span() and if we have overlapped groups it's possible to run into this case. This patch makes env->dst_grpmask of group_balance_mask() which exclude any CPUs from the busiest group and solve the issue. For balancing in a domain with no overlapped groups the behaviour keeps same as before.
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Meta Information
Published
2025-09-15
Last Modified
2025-12-03
Generated
2026-05-07
AI Q&A
2025-09-15
EPSS Evaluated
2026-05-05
NVD
CVE-2023-53215
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 7 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel to 4.14.322 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 4.15 (inc) to 4.19.291 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 4.20 (inc) to 5.4.251 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 5.5 (inc) to 5.10.188 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 5.11 (inc) to 5.15.150 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 5.16 (inc) to 6.1.42 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 6.2 (inc) to 6.4.7 (exc)
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AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?

This vulnerability involves the Linux kernel's task scheduler where the load balancer tries to migrate a task that has migration disabled to its current running CPU, triggering a warning. The issue arises because the load balancer selects a new destination CPU for the task, but if the task is migration disabled and only allowed to run on its current CPU, the balancer ends up selecting the same CPU again, causing a superfluous warning. The patch fixes this by adjusting the CPU selection mask to exclude CPUs from the busiest group, preventing this unnecessary warning.


How can this vulnerability impact me? :

The impact of this vulnerability is primarily related to unnecessary warnings in the kernel logs due to the scheduler attempting to migrate migration-disabled tasks to their current CPU. This does not indicate a security breach or system compromise but could lead to confusion or noise in system logs, potentially complicating debugging or system monitoring.


How can this vulnerability be detected on my network or system? Can you suggest some commands?

This vulnerability can be detected by monitoring the Linux kernel logs for the specific warning message triggered by the balancer when it tries to balance a migration disabled task to its current running CPU. You can check the kernel logs using the command: dmesg | grep 'WARNING: CPU.*set_task_cpu'. This will help identify if the warning described in the vulnerability appears on your system.


What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?

The vulnerability has been resolved by a patch that changes the CPU selection mask during load balancing to exclude CPUs from the busiest group, preventing the warning from triggering. Immediate mitigation involves updating your Linux kernel to a version that includes this fix. Until then, monitoring for the warning and avoiding workloads that trigger migration disabled tasks on overlapped CPU groups may help reduce occurrences.


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