CVE-2023-53742 | kcsan: Avoid READ_ONCE() in read_instrumented_memory()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kcsan: Avoid READ_ONCE() in read_instrumented_memory() Haibo Li reported: | Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address | ffffff802a0d8d7171 | Mem abort info:o: | ESR = 0x9600002121 | EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bitsts | SET = 0, FnV = 0 0 | EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 0 | FSC = 0x21: alignment fault | Data abort info:o: | ISV = 0, ISS = 0x0000002121 | CM = 0, WnR = 0 0 | swapper pgtable: 4k pages, 39-bit VAs, pgdp=000000002835200000 | [ffffff802a0d8d71] pgd=180000005fbf9003, p4d=180000005fbf9003, | pud=180000005fbf9003, pmd=180000005fbe8003, pte=006800002a0d8707 | Internal error: Oops: 96000021 [#1] PREEMPT SMP | Modules linked in: | CPU: 2 PID: 45 Comm: kworker/u8:2 Not tainted | 5.15.78-android13-8-g63561175bbda-dirty #1 | ... | pc : kcsan_setup_watchpoint+0x26c/0x6bc | lr : kcsan_setup_watchpoint+0x88/0x6bc | sp : ffffffc00ab4b7f0 | x29: ffffffc00ab4b800 x28: ffffff80294fe588 x27: 0000000000000001 | x26: 0000000000000019 x25: 0000000000000001 x24: ffffff80294fdb80 | x23: 0000000000000000 x22: ffffffc00a70fb68 x21: ffffff802a0d8d71 | x20: 0000000000000002 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: ffffffc00a9bd060 | x17: 0000000000000001 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: ffffffc00a59f000 | x14: 0000000000000001 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: ffffffc00a70faa0 | x11: 00000000aaaaaaab x10: 0000000000000054 x9 : ffffffc00839adf8 | x8 : ffffffc009b4cf00 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000007 | x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : ffffffc00a70fb70 | x2 : 0005ff802a0d8d71 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 | Call trace: | kcsan_setup_watchpoint+0x26c/0x6bc | __tsan_read2+0x1f0/0x234 | inflate_fast+0x498/0x750 | zlib_inflate+0x1304/0x2384 | __gunzip+0x3a0/0x45c | gunzip+0x20/0x30 | unpack_to_rootfs+0x2a8/0x3fc | do_populate_rootfs+0xe8/0x11c | async_run_entry_fn+0x58/0x1bc | process_one_work+0x3ec/0x738 | worker_thread+0x4c4/0x838 | kthread+0x20c/0x258 | ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 | Code: b8bfc2a8 2a0803f7 14000007 d503249f (78bfc2a8) ) | ---[ end trace 613a943cb0a572b6 ]----- The reason for this is that on certain arm64 configuration since e35123d83ee3 ("arm64: lto: Strengthen READ_ONCE() to acquire when CONFIG_LTO=y"), READ_ONCE() may be promoted to a full atomic acquire instruction which cannot be used on unaligned addresses. Fix it by avoiding READ_ONCE() in read_instrumented_memory(), and simply forcing the compiler to do the required access by casting to the appropriate volatile type. In terms of generated code this currently only affects architectures that do not use the default READ_ONCE() implementation. The only downside is that we are not guaranteed atomicity of the access itself, although on most architectures a plain load up to machine word size should still be atomic (a fact the default READ_ONCE() still relies on itself).

Published: 2025-12-08 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53742 is rated Low Risk (3.6/100): low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2023-53742

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 2025-12-08 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53742

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

No CVSS data in dataset for this CVE.

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53742

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53742

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53742 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-53742
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53742
suse medium CVE-2023-53742 severity moderate: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 269 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 269. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53742/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53742 medium priority: Ubuntu including 157 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1405 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1010, ignored 176, released 84, needed 75, not-affected 60. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53742

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53742

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2023-53742

cvelogic Threat Intelligence