CVE-2023-53455 | drm/vc4: drop all currently held locks if deadlock happens

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/vc4: drop all currently held locks if deadlock happens If vc4_hdmi_reset_link() returns -EDEADLK, it means that a deadlock happened in the locking context. This situation should be addressed by dropping all currently held locks and block until the contended lock becomes available. Currently, vc4 is not dealing with the deadlock properly, producing the following output when PROVE_LOCKING is enabled: [ 825.612809] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 825.612852] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 116 at drivers/gpu/drm/drm_modeset_lock.c:276 drm_modeset_drop_locks+0x60/0x68 [drm] [ 825.613458] Modules linked in: 8021q mrp garp stp llc raspberrypi_cpufreq brcmfmac brcmutil crct10dif_ce hci_uart cfg80211 btqca btbcm bluetooth vc4 raspberrypi_hwmon snd_soc_hdmi_codec cec clk_raspberrypi ecdh_generic drm_display_helper ecc rfkill drm_dma_helper drm_kms_helper pwm_bcm2835 bcm2835_thermal bcm2835_rng rng_core i2c_bcm2835 drm fuse ip_tables x_tables ipv6 [ 825.613735] CPU: 1 PID: 116 Comm: kworker/1:2 Tainted: G W 6.1.0-rc6-01399-g941aae326315 #3 [ 825.613759] Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Rev 1.2 (DT) [ 825.613777] Workqueue: events output_poll_execute [drm_kms_helper] [ 825.614038] pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 825.614063] pc : drm_modeset_drop_locks+0x60/0x68 [drm] [ 825.614603] lr : drm_helper_probe_detect+0x120/0x1b4 [drm_kms_helper] [ 825.614829] sp : ffff800008313bf0 [ 825.614844] x29: ffff800008313bf0 x28: ffffcd7778b8b000 x27: 0000000000000000 [ 825.614883] x26: 0000000000000001 x25: 0000000000000001 x24: ffff677cc35c2758 [ 825.614920] x23: ffffcd7707d01430 x22: ffffcd7707c3edc7 x21: 0000000000000001 [ 825.614958] x20: 0000000000000000 x19: ffff800008313c10 x18: 000000000000b6d3 [ 825.614995] x17: ffffcd777835e214 x16: ffffcd7777cef870 x15: fffff81000000000 [ 825.615033] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000099 x12: 0000000000000002 [ 825.615070] x11: 72917988020af800 x10: 72917988020af800 x9 : 72917988020af800 [ 825.615108] x8 : ffff677cc665e0a8 x7 : d00a8c180000110c x6 : ffffcd77774c0054 [ 825.615145] x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000001 x3 : 0000000000000000 [ 825.615181] x2 : ffff677cc55e1880 x1 : ffffcd7777cef8ec x0 : ffff800008313c10 [ 825.615219] Call trace: [ 825.615232] drm_modeset_drop_locks+0x60/0x68 [drm] [ 825.615773] drm_helper_probe_detect+0x120/0x1b4 [drm_kms_helper] [ 825.616003] output_poll_execute+0xe4/0x224 [drm_kms_helper] [ 825.616233] process_one_work+0x2b4/0x618 [ 825.616264] worker_thread+0x24c/0x464 [ 825.616288] kthread+0xec/0x110 [ 825.616310] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 [ 825.616335] irq event stamp: 7634 [ 825.616349] hardirqs last enabled at (7633): [<ffffcd777831ee90>] _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x3c/0x78 [ 825.616384] hardirqs last disabled at (7634): [<ffffcd7778315a78>] __schedule+0x134/0x9f0 [ 825.616411] softirqs last enabled at (7630): [<ffffcd7707aacea0>] local_bh_enable+0x4/0x30 [ipv6] [ 825.617019] softirqs last disabled at (7618): [<ffffcd7707aace70>] local_bh_disable+0x4/0x30 [ipv6] [ 825.617586] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Therefore, deal with the deadlock as suggested by [1], using the function drm_modeset_backoff(). [1] https://docs.kernel.org/gpu/drm-kms.html?highlight=kms#kms-locking

Published: 2025-10-01 Last update: 2026-01-16 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53455 is rated Low Risk (23.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.14%). 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-2023-53455

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% 0.14% +0.12%
2 2025-10-01 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53455

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-2023-53455

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53455

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2023-53455 unimportant 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-2023-53455
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53455
suse low CVE-2023-53455 severity low: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 276 product×package rows across 54 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, … (54 product lines)): Known Not Affected 276. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53455/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53455 medium priority: Ubuntu including 150 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1350 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 969, ignored 159, not-affected 142, released 80. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53455

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53455

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1, < 6.1.16 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.2.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53455

cvelogic Threat Intelligence