CVE-2023-52438: binder: fix use-after-free in shinker's callback
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2023-52438 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use After Free vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.29% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 22.2% of scored vulnerabilities.
Not severe (CVSS 7.8, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 9 · Related 8Timeline
- 20-02-2024PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 05-08-2026Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: binder: fix use-after-free in shinker's callback The mmap read lock is used during the shrinker's callback, which means that using alloc->vma pointer isn't safe as it can race with munmap(). As of commit dd2283f2605e ("mm: mmap: zap pages with read mmap_sem in munmap") the mmap lock is downgraded after the vma has been isolated. I was able to reproduce this issue by manually adding some delays and triggering page reclaiming through the shrinker's debug sysfs. The following KASAN report confirms the UAF: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in zap_page_range_single+0x470/0x4b8 Read of size 8 at addr ffff356ed50e50f0 by task bash/478 CPU: 1 PID: 478 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.6.0-rc5-00055-g1c8b86a3799f-dirty #70 Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) Call trace: zap_page_range_single+0x470/0x4b8 binder_alloc_free_page+0x608/0xadc __list_lru_walk_one+0x130/0x3b0 list_lru_walk_node+0xc4/0x22c binder_shrink_scan+0x108/0x1dc shrinker_debugfs_scan_write+0x2b4/0x500 full_proxy_write+0xd4/0x140 vfs_write+0x1ac/0x758 ksys_write+0xf0/0x1dc __arm64_sys_write+0x6c/0x9c Allocated by task 492: kmem_cache_alloc+0x130/0x368 vm_area_alloc+0x2c/0x190 mmap_region+0x258/0x18bc do_mmap+0x694/0xa60 vm_mmap_pgoff+0x170/0x29c ksys_mmap_pgoff+0x290/0x3a0 __arm64_sys_mmap+0xcc/0x144 Freed by task 491: kmem_cache_free+0x17c/0x3c8 vm_area_free_rcu_cb+0x74/0x98 rcu_core+0xa38/0x26d4 rcu_core_si+0x10/0x1c __do_softirq+0x2fc/0xd24 Last potentially related work creation: __call_rcu_common.constprop.0+0x6c/0xba0 call_rcu+0x10/0x1c vm_area_free+0x18/0x24 remove_vma+0xe4/0x118 do_vmi_align_munmap.isra.0+0x718/0xb5c do_vmi_munmap+0xdc/0x1fc __vm_munmap+0x10c/0x278 __arm64_sys_munmap+0x58/0x7c Fix this issue by performing instead a vma_lookup() which will fail to find the vma that was isolated before the mmap lock downgrade. Note that this option has better performance than upgrading to a mmap write lock which would increase contention. Plus, mmap_write_trylock() has been recently removed anyway.
CVSS metrics
5 scores · 4 sources · 2 versions- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- NVDNIST7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
0.29%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
22%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
No change 0.00 pp
From 0.29% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogsNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.
Not in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Ubuntu112 products
- linux< 5.4.0-176.196 | < 5.15.0-102.112
- linux-allwinner-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-aws< 5.4.0-1122.132 | < 5.15.0-1057.63
- linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
Linux2 products
- linux≥ dd2283f2605e3b3e9c61bcae844b34f2afa4813f, < a53e15e592b4dcc91c3a3b8514e484a0bdbc53a3 | ≥ dd2283f2605e3b3e9c61bcae844b34f2afa4813f, < c8c1158ffb007197f31f9d9170cf13e4f34cbb5c | ≥ dd2283f2605e3b3e9c61bcae844b34f2afa4813f, < 8ad4d580e8aff8de2a4d57c5930fcc29f1ffd4a6 | ≥ dd2283f2605e3b3e9c61bcae844b34f2afa4813f, < 9fa04c93f24138747807fe75b5591bb680098f56 | ≥ dd2283f2605e3b3e9c61bcae844b34f2afa4813f, < a49087ab93508b60d9b8add91707a22dda832869 | ≥ dd2283f2605e3b3e9c61bcae844b34f2afa4813f, < e074686e993ff1be5f21b085a3b1b4275ccd5727 | ≥ dd2283f2605e3b3e9c61bcae844b34f2afa4813f, < 3f489c2067c5824528212b0fc18b28d51332d906 | 4.20
- linux_kernel≥ 4.20.0, < 5.4.268 | ≥ 5.5.0, < 5.10.209 | ≥ 5.11.0, < 5.15.148 | ≥ 5.16.0, < 6.1.74 | ≥ 6.2.0, < 6.6.13 | ≥ 6.7.0, < 6.7.1
Debian1 product
- linux< 6.1.76-1 | < 6.6.13-1
3 vendors · 115 products