{"id":"CVE-2023-53989","summary":"arm64: mm: fix VA-range sanity check","details":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\narm64: mm: fix VA-range sanity check\n\nBoth create_mapping_noalloc() and update_mapping_prot() sanity-check\ntheir 'virt' parameter, but the check itself doesn't make much sense.\nThe condition used today appears to be a historical accident.\n\nThe sanity-check condition:\n\n\tif ((virt \u003e= PAGE_END) && (virt \u003c VMALLOC_START)) {\n\t\t[ ... warning here ... ]\n\t\treturn;\n\t}\n\n... can only be true for the KASAN shadow region or the module region,\nand there's no reason to exclude these specifically for creating and\nupdateing mappings.\n\nWhen arm64 support was first upstreamed in commit:\n\n  c1cc1552616d0f35 (\"arm64: MMU initialisation\")\n\n... the condition was:\n\n\tif (virt \u003c VMALLOC_START) {\n\t\t[ ... warning here ... ]\n\t\treturn;\n\t}\n\nAt the time, VMALLOC_START was the lowest kernel address, and this was\nchecking whether 'virt' would be translated via TTBR1.\n\nSubsequently in commit:\n\n  14c127c957c1c607 (\"arm64: mm: Flip kernel VA space\")\n\n... the condition was changed to:\n\n\tif ((virt \u003e= VA_START) && (virt \u003c VMALLOC_START)) {\n\t\t[ ... warning here ... ]\n\t\treturn;\n\t}\n\nThis appear to have been a thinko. The commit moved the linear map to\nthe bottom of the kernel address space, with VMALLOC_START being at the\nhalfway point. The old condition would warn for changes to the linear\nmap below this, and at the time VA_START was the end of the linear map.\n\nSubsequently we cleaned up the naming of VA_START in commit:\n\n  77ad4ce69321abbe (\"arm64: memory: rename VA_START to PAGE_END\")\n\n... keeping the erroneous condition as:\n\n\tif ((virt \u003e= PAGE_END) && (virt \u003c VMALLOC_START)) {\n\t\t[ ... warning here ... ]\n\t\treturn;\n\t}\n\nCorrect the condition to check against the start of the TTBR1 address\nspace, which is currently PAGE_OFFSET. This simplifies the logic, and\nmore clearly matches the \"outside kernel range\" message in the warning.","modified":"2026-04-02T09:45:27.107643Z","published":"2025-12-24T10:55:28.461Z","related":["SUSE-SU-2026:0263-1","SUSE-SU-2026:0278-1","SUSE-SU-2026:0281-1","SUSE-SU-2026:0293-1","SUSE-SU-2026:0315-1","SUSE-SU-2026:0317-1","SUSE-SU-2026:20477-1","SUSE-SU-2026:20498-1","SUSE-SU-2026:20845-1","SUSE-SU-2026:20876-1"],"database_specific":{"osv_generated_from":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/53xxx/CVE-2023-53989.json","cna_assigner":"Linux"},"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/32020fc2a8373d3de35ae6d029d5969a42651e7a"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/621619f626cbe702ddbdc54117f3868b8ebd8129"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9d8d3df71516ec3236d8d93ff029d251377ba4b1"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ab9b4008092c86dc12497af155a0901cc1156999"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b03c7fcc5ed854d0e1b27e9abf12428bfa751a37"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/53xxx/CVE-2023-53989.json"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53989"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git"}],"affected":[{"ranges":[{"type":"GIT","repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","events":[{"introduced":"14c127c957c1c6070647c171e72f06e0db275ebf"},{"fixed":"9d8d3df71516ec3236d8d93ff029d251377ba4b1"},{"fixed":"32020fc2a8373d3de35ae6d029d5969a42651e7a"},{"fixed":"621619f626cbe702ddbdc54117f3868b8ebd8129"},{"fixed":"b03c7fcc5ed854d0e1b27e9abf12428bfa751a37"},{"fixed":"ab9b4008092c86dc12497af155a0901cc1156999"}]}],"database_specific":{"source":"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2023-53989.json"}},{"package":{"name":"Kernel","ecosystem":"Linux"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.4.0"},{"fixed":"5.4.251"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.5.0"},{"fixed":"5.10.188"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.11.0"},{"fixed":"5.15.150"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.16.0"},{"fixed":"6.4.7"}]}],"database_specific":{"source":"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2023-53989.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.7.5"}