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posix-timers: Prevent RT livelock in itimer_delete()

Type: advisorySources: OSV

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: posix-timers: Prevent RT livelock in itimer_delete() itimer_delete() has a retry loop when the timer is concurrently expired. On non-RT kernels this just spin-waits until the timer callback has completed, except for posix CPU timers which have HAVE_POSIX_CPU_TIMERS_TASK_WORK enabled. In that case and on RT kernels the existing task could live lock when preempting the task which does the timer delivery. Replace spin_unlock() with an invocation of timer_wait_running() to handle it the same way as the other retry loops in the posix timer code.

Products
Kernel
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
5.10.188, 5.15.121, 6.1.39, 6.3.13, 6.4.4
CVEs
CVE-2023-53815
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
3 Nov 2026, 03:05 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

posix-timers: Prevent RT livelock in itimer_delete()

core-osv · Original source

Published 9 Dec 2025, 00:01 UTC

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: posix-timers: Prevent RT livelock in itimer_delete() itimer_delete() has a retry loop when the timer is concurrently expired. On non-RT kernels this just spin-waits until the timer callback has completed, except for posix CPU timers which have HAVE_POSIX_CPU_TIMERS_TASK_WORK enabled. In that case and on RT kernels the existing task could live lock when preempting the task which does the timer delivery. Replace spin_unlock() with an invocation of timer_wait_running() to handle it the same way as the other retry loops in the posix timer code.

osv:CVE-2023-53815

Kernel

Fixed versions: 5.10.188, 5.15.121, 6.1.39, 6.3.13, 6.4.4

Complete source record
{
  "id": "7fe56dc21d01fb062a22c9172a6526ae180957e54acf413f618471b2107fbc75",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53815",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "posix-timers: Prevent RT livelock in itimer_delete()",
    "summary": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: posix-timers: Prevent RT livelock in itimer_delete() itimer_delete() has a retry loop when the timer is concurrently expired. On non-RT kernels this just spin-waits until the timer callback has completed, except for posix CPU timers which have HAVE_POSIX_CPU_TIMERS_TASK_WORK enabled. In that case and on RT kernels the existing task could live lock when preempting the task which does the timer delivery. Replace spin_unlock() with an invocation of timer_wait_running() to handle it the same way as the other retry loops in the posix timer code.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2023-53815",
    "products": [
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "Kernel",
          "evidence": "/affected/1/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "5.10.188",
            "evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
          },
          {
            "value": "5.15.121",
            "evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
          },
          {
            "value": "6.1.39",
            "evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
          },
          {
            "value": "6.3.13",
            "evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
          },
          {
            "value": "6.4.4",
            "evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
          }
        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      }
    ],
    "severity": "unknown",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2023-53815",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2023-53815"
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
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              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
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                },
                {
                  "fixed": "0670c4c567b27bd8f999a943028f4fe60d1a1106"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "e7aff15ba29ba4b3052786b1636fa5c4aa39e179"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "f9bd298e3e4d3fd6e19f017789a42d0f332cd555"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "c1968bb8a28625cc95d2ad3ca872ab98c9c36d59"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "9d9e522010eb5685d8b53e8a24320653d9d4cbbf"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2023-53815.json"
          }
        },
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "5.4.0"
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                  "fixed": "5.10.188"
                }
              ]
            },
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "5.11.0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "5.15.121"
                }
              ]
            },
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "5.16.0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "6.1.39"
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              ]
            },
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "6.2.0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "6.3.13"
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              ]
            },
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "6.4.0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "6.4.4"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "Kernel",
            "ecosystem": "Linux"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2023-53815.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:25.379839947Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0670c4c567b27bd8f999a943028f4fe60d1a1106",
        "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9d9e522010eb5685d8b53e8a24320653d9d4cbbf",
        "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c1968bb8a28625cc95d2ad3ca872ab98c9c36d59",
        "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e7aff15ba29ba4b3052786b1636fa5c4aa39e179",
        "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f1be1ed32daa053484222f7f9beb2b16c624dffd",
        "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f9bd298e3e4d3fd6e19f017789a42d0f332cd555",
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/53xxx/CVE-2023-53815.json",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53815",
        "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cna_assigner": "Linux",
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/53xxx/CVE-2023-53815.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2023-53815",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": null
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 492115,
  "published_at": "2025-12-09T00:01:12.832+00:00"
}