Local CPU soft lockup via unbounded SMMU invalidations
Published Feb 29, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Improper locking in Linux kernel 5.12 allows local users to hang a CPU through an ARM SMMU v3 SVA memory-unmapping operation. The arm_smmu_mm_invalidate_range path issues one TLB invalidation command per page without enforcing the CPU-side operation threshold, so a large range monopolizes the command queue. The path is reachable only when ARM SMMU v3 shared virtual addressing is active; triggering it causes a watchdog-reported soft lockup and local service interruption.
Summary
What happened
Improper locking in Linux kernel 5.12 allows local users to hang a CPU through an ARM SMMU v3 SVA memory-unmapping operation. The arm_smmu_mm_invalidate_range path issues one TLB invalidation command per page without enforcing the CPU-side operation threshold, so a large range monopolizes the command queue. The path is reachable only when ARM SMMU v3 shared virtual addressing is active; triggering it causes a watchdog-reported soft lockup and local service interruption.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-52484
- Published
- Feb 29, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-667, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 29, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=5.12
- Affected versionversion=51d113c3be09ff5b916576b1109daf413549cacc <3283a1bce9bbc978059f790b84f3c10c32492429
- Affected versionversion=51d113c3be09ff5b916576b1109daf413549cacc <d5afb4b47e13161b3f33904d45110f9e6463bad6
- Affected versionversion=51d113c3be09ff5b916576b1109daf413549cacc <f5a604757aa8e37ea9c7011dc9da54fa1b30f29b
- Affected versionversion=51d113c3be09ff5b916576b1109daf413549cacc <f90f4c562003ac3d3b135c5a40a5383313f27264
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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