CVE-2023-53329
kernel: workqueue: fix data race with the pwq->stats[] increment
Severity
ModerateRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.1
Review impact separately from score.
Published · September 16, 2025
Updated · June 30, 2026
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
workqueue: fix data race with the pwq->stats[] increment
KCSAN has discovered a data race in kernel/workqueue.c:2598:
[ 1863.554079] ================================================================== [ 1863.554118] BUG: KCSAN: data-race in process_one_work / process_one_work
[ 1863.554142] write to 0xffff963d99d79998 of 8 bytes by task 5394 on cpu 27: [ 1863.554154] process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:2598) [ 1863.554166] worker_thread (./include/linux/list.h:292 kernel/workqueue.c:2752) [ 1863.554177] kthread (kernel/kthread.c:389) [ 1863.554186] ret_from_fork (arch/x86/kernel/process.c:145) [ 1863.554197] ret_from_fork_asm (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:312)
[ 1863.554213] read to 0xffff963d99d79998 of 8 bytes by task 5450 on cpu 12: [ 1863.554224] process_one_work (kernel/workqueue.c:2598) [ 1863.554235] worker_thread (./include/linux/list.h:292 kernel/workqueue.c:2752) [ 1863.554247] kthread (kernel/kthread.c:389) [ 1863.554255] ret_from_fork (arch/x86/kernel/process.c:145) [ 1863.554266] ret_from_fork_asm (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:312)
[ 1863.554280] value changed: 0x0000000000001766 -> 0x000000000000176a
[ 1863.554295] Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on: [ 1863.554303] CPU: 12 PID: 5450 Comm: kworker/u64:1 Tainted: G L 6.5.0-rc6+ #44 [ 1863.554314] Hardware name: ASRock X670E PG Lightning/X670E PG Lightning, BIOS 1.21 04/26/2023 [ 1863.554322] Workqueue: btrfs-endio btrfs_end_bio_work [btrfs] [ 1863.554941] ==================================================================
lockdep_invariant_state(true);
→ pwq->stats[PWQ_STAT_STARTED]++; trace_workqueue_execute_start(work); worker->current_func(work);
Moving pwq->stats[PWQ_STAT_STARTED]++; before the line
raw_spin_unlock_irq(&pool->lock);
resolves the data race without performance penalty.
KCSAN detected at least one additional data race:
[ 157.834751] ================================================================== [ 157.834770] BUG: KCSAN: data-race in process_one_work / process_one_work
[ 157.834793] write to 0xffff9934453f77a0 of 8 bytes by task 468 on cpu 29: [ 157.834804] process_one_work (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/workqueue.c:2606) [ 157.834815] worker_thread (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/./include/linux/list.h:292 /home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/workqueue.c:2752) [ 157.834826] kthread (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/kthread.c:389) [ 157.834834] ret_from_fork (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/arch/x86/kernel/process.c:145) [ 157.834845] ret_from_fork_asm (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:312)
[ 157.834859] read to 0xffff9934453f77a0 of 8 bytes by task 214 on cpu 7: [ 157.834868] process_one_work (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/workqueue.c:2606) [ 157.834879] worker_thread (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/./include/linux/list.h:292 /home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/workqueue.c:2752) [ 157.834890] kthread (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/kernel/kthread.c:389) [ 157.834897] ret_from_fork (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/arch/x86/kernel/process.c:145) [ 157.834907] ret_from_fork_asm (/home/marvin/linux/kernel/linux_torvalds/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:312)
[ 157.834920] value changed: 0x000000000000052a -> 0x0000000000000532
[ 157.834933] Reported by Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer on: [ 157.834941] CPU: 7 PID: 214 Comm: kworker/u64:2 Tainted: G L 6.5.0-rc7-kcsan-00169-g81eaf55a60fc #4 [ 157.834951] Hardware name: ASRock X670E PG Lightning/X670E PG Lightning, BIOS 1.21 04/26/2023 [ 157.834958] Workqueue: btrfs-endio btrfs_end_bio_work [btrfs] [ 157.835567] ==================================================================
in code:
trace_workqueue_execute_end(work, worker->current_func);
→ pwq->stats[PWQ_STAT_COM ---truncated---
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
No mitigation is specified in collected source.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.1 · 7CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE-366 · Race Condition within a Thread