CVE-2023-53031 | powerpc/imc-pmu: Fix use of mutex in IRQs disabled section

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/imc-pmu: Fix use of mutex in IRQs disabled section Current imc-pmu code triggers a WARNING with CONFIG_DEBUG_ATOMIC_SLEEP and CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING enabled, while running a thread_imc event. Command to trigger the warning: # perf stat -e thread_imc/CPM_CS_FROM_L4_MEM_X_DPTEG/ sleep 5 Performance counter stats for 'sleep 5': 0 thread_imc/CPM_CS_FROM_L4_MEM_X_DPTEG/ 5.002117947 seconds time elapsed 0.000131000 seconds user 0.001063000 seconds sys Below is snippet of the warning in dmesg: BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:580 in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 1, non_block: 0, pid: 2869, name: perf-exec preempt_count: 2, expected: 0 4 locks held by perf-exec/2869: #0: c00000004325c540 (&sig->cred_guard_mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: bprm_execve+0x64/0xa90 #1: c00000004325c5d8 (&sig->exec_update_lock){++++}-{3:3}, at: begin_new_exec+0x460/0xef0 #2: c0000003fa99d4e0 (&cpuctx_lock){-...}-{2:2}, at: perf_event_exec+0x290/0x510 #3: c000000017ab8418 (&ctx->lock){....}-{2:2}, at: perf_event_exec+0x29c/0x510 irq event stamp: 4806 hardirqs last enabled at (4805): [<c000000000f65b94>] _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x94/0xd0 hardirqs last disabled at (4806): [<c0000000003fae44>] perf_event_exec+0x394/0x510 softirqs last enabled at (0): [<c00000000013c404>] copy_process+0xc34/0x1ff0 softirqs last disabled at (0): [<0000000000000000>] 0x0 CPU: 36 PID: 2869 Comm: perf-exec Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-00011-g1247637727f2 #61 Hardware name: 8375-42A POWER9 0x4e1202 opal:v7.0-16-g9b85f7d961 PowerNV Call Trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x98/0xe0 (unreliable) __might_resched+0x2f8/0x310 __mutex_lock+0x6c/0x13f0 thread_imc_event_add+0xf4/0x1b0 event_sched_in+0xe0/0x210 merge_sched_in+0x1f0/0x600 visit_groups_merge.isra.92.constprop.166+0x2bc/0x6c0 ctx_flexible_sched_in+0xcc/0x140 ctx_sched_in+0x20c/0x2a0 ctx_resched+0x104/0x1c0 perf_event_exec+0x340/0x510 begin_new_exec+0x730/0xef0 load_elf_binary+0x3f8/0x1e10 ... do not call blocking ops when !TASK_RUNNING; state=2001 set at [<00000000fd63e7cf>] do_nanosleep+0x60/0x1a0 WARNING: CPU: 36 PID: 2869 at kernel/sched/core.c:9912 __might_sleep+0x9c/0xb0 CPU: 36 PID: 2869 Comm: sleep Tainted: G W 6.2.0-rc2-00011-g1247637727f2 #61 Hardware name: 8375-42A POWER9 0x4e1202 opal:v7.0-16-g9b85f7d961 PowerNV NIP: c000000000194a1c LR: c000000000194a18 CTR: c000000000a78670 REGS: c00000004d2134e0 TRAP: 0700 Tainted: G W (6.2.0-rc2-00011-g1247637727f2) MSR: 9000000000021033 <SF,HV,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE> CR: 48002824 XER: 00000000 CFAR: c00000000013fb64 IRQMASK: 1 The above warning triggered because the current imc-pmu code uses mutex lock in interrupt disabled sections. The function mutex_lock() internally calls __might_resched(), which will check if IRQs are disabled and in case IRQs are disabled, it will trigger the warning. Fix the issue by changing the mutex lock to spinlock. [mpe: Fix comments, trim oops in change log, add reported-by tags]

Published: 2025-03-27 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53031 is rated Low Risk (22.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.12%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-53031

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.02% 0.12% +0.10%
2 2025-03-28 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53031

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53031

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53031

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53031 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-53031
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53031
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53031/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53031 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1551 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1145, ignored 147, released 138, not-affected 105, needed 15, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53031

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53031

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.14, < 5.4.229 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.164 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.89 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.7 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53031

cvelogic Threat Intelligence