CVE-2023-53795
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
iommufd: IOMMUFD_DESTROY should not increase the refcount
syzkaller found a race where IOMMUFD_DESTROY increments the refcount:
obj = iommufd_get_object(ucmd->ictx, cmd->id, IOMMUFD_OBJ_ANY); if (IS_ERR(obj)) return PTR_ERR(obj); iommufd_ref_to_users(obj); /* See iommufd_ref_to_users() */ if (!iommufd_object_destroy_user(ucmd->ictx, obj))
As part of the sequence to join the two existing primitives together.
Allowing the refcount the be elevated without holding the destroy_rwsem violates the assumption that all temporary refcount elevations are protected by destroy_rwsem. Racing IOMMUFD_DESTROY with iommufd_object_destroy_user() will cause spurious failures:
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 3076 at drivers/iommu/iommufd/device.c:477 iommufd_access_destroy+0x18/0x20 drivers/iommu/iommufd/device.c:478 Modules linked in: CPU: 0 PID: 3076 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 6.3.0-rc1-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/03/2023 RIP: 0010:iommufd_access_destroy+0x18/0x20 drivers/iommu/iommufd/device.c:477 Code: e8 3d 4e 00 00 84 c0 74 01 c3 0f 0b c3 0f 1f 44 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 fe 48 8b bf a8 00 00 00 e8 1d 4e 00 00 84 c0 74 01 c3 <0f> 0b c3 0f 1f 44 00 00 41 57 41 56 41 55 4c 8d ae d0 00 00 00 41 RSP: 0018:ffffc90003067e08 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff888109ea0300 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 00000000ffffffff RBP: 0000000000000004 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffff88810bbb3500 R10: ffff88810bbb3e48 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffffc90003067e88 R13: ffffc90003067ea8 R14: ffff888101249800 R15: 00000000fffffffe FS: 00007ff7254fe6c0(0000) GS:ffff888237c00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000555557262da8 CR3: 000000010a6fd000 CR4: 0000000000350ef0 Call Trace:
iommufd_test_create_access drivers/iommu/iommufd/selftest.c:596 [inline] iommufd_test+0x71c/0xcf0 drivers/iommu/iommufd/selftest.c:813 iommufd_fops_ioctl+0x10f/0x1b0 drivers/iommu/iommufd/main.c:337 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:856 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x84/0xc0 fs/ioctl.c:856 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x38/0x80 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
The solution is to not increment the refcount on the IOMMUFD_DESTROY path at all. Instead use the xa_lock to serialize everything. The refcount check == 1 and xa_erase can be done under a single critical region. This avoids the need for any refcount incrementing.
It has the downside that if userspace races destroy with other operations it will get an EBUSY instead of waiting, but this is kind of racing is already dangerous.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
A race condition in IOMMUFD_DESTROY in the Linux kernel allows refcount elevation without proper locking, leading to spurious failures.
In the Linux kernel's iommufd subsystem, the IOMMUFD_DESTROY operation was found to incorrectly increase the reference count of an object without holding the destroy_rwsem lock, as described in the CVE. This violates the assumption that all temporary refcount elevations are protected by destroy_rwsem, leading to a race condition [1].
The vulnerability can be triggered by racing IOMMUFD_DESTROY with iommufd_object_destroy_user(), as demonstrated by syzkaller. An attacker with local access and the ability to invoke ioctl calls on iommufd devices can exploit this race to cause spurious failures [1].
The impact includes kernel warnings and potential denial of service due to incorrect refcount handling. A warning such as 'WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 3076 at drivers/iommu/iommufd/device.c:477 iommufd_access_destroy+0x18/0x20' may be observed [1].
The fix has been applied in the Linux kernel stable repository via commit 99f98a7c0d6985d5507c8130a981972e4b7b3bdc. Users are advised to update to a kernel version containing this commit or later [1].
AI Insight generated on May 19, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Affected products
2Patches
2495b327435b099f98a7c0d69Vulnerability mechanics
Generated on May 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
2News mentions
0No linked articles in our index yet.