In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cgroup,freezer: hold cpu_hotplug_lock before freezer_mutex syzbot is reporting circular locking dependency between cpu_hotplug_lock and freezer_mutex, for commit f5d39b020809 ("freezer,sched: Rewrite core freezer logic") replaced atomic_inc() in freezer_apply_state() with static_branch_inc() which holds cpu_hotplug_lock. cpu_hotplug_lock => cgroup_threadgroup_rwsem => freezer_mutex cgroup_file_write() { cgroup_procs_write() { __cgroup_procs_write() { cgroup_procs_write_start() { cgroup_attach_lock() { cpus_read_lock() { percpu_down_read(&cpu_hotplug_lock); } percpu_down_write(&cgroup_threadgroup_rwsem); } } cgroup_attach_task() { cgroup_migrate() { cgroup_migrate_execute() { freezer_attach() { mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex); (...snipped...) } } } } (...snipped...) } } } freezer_mutex => cpu_hotplug_lock cgroup_file_write() { freezer_write() { freezer_change_state() { mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex); freezer_apply_state() { static_branch_inc(&freezer_active) { static_key_slow_inc() { cpus_read_lock(); static_key_slow_inc_cpuslocked(); cpus_read_unlock(); } } } mutex_unlock(&freezer_mutex); } } } Swap locking order by moving cpus_read_lock() in freezer_apply_state() to before mutex_lock(&freezer_mutex) in freezer_change_state().
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53522 is rated Low Risk (32.2/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). 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.
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 | 2025-10-01 | — | 0.02% | — |
Full EPSS history (1 record total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.8 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2023-53522 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-2023-53522 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53522 |
suse
|
medium | CVE-2023-53522 severity moderate: 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-2023-53522/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2023-53522 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-2023-53522 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.1, < 6.1.25 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | >= 6.2, < 6.2.12 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.3 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.3 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.3 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.3 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.3 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.3 | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* |