---
id: CVE-2023-53031
title: 'powerpc/imc-pmu: Fix use of mutex in IRQs disabled section'
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  powerpc/imc-pmu: Fix use of mutex in IRQs disabled section

  Current imc-pmu code triggers a WARNING with CONFIG_DEBUG_ATOMIC_SLEEP
  and CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING enabled, whi…
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 8f95faaac56c18b32d0e23ace55417a440abdb7e <
    d0c6d2a31026102d4738b47a610bed4401b9834f
  - >-
    Linux >= 8f95faaac56c18b32d0e23ace55417a440abdb7e <
    8cbeb60320ac45a8240b561c8ef466b86c34dedc
  - >-
    Linux >= 8f95faaac56c18b32d0e23ace55417a440abdb7e <
    a90d339f1f66be4a946769b565668e2bd0686dfa
  - >-
    Linux >= 8f95faaac56c18b32d0e23ace55417a440abdb7e <
    424bcb570cb320d1d15238cd4c933522b90f78fa
  - >-
    Linux >= 8f95faaac56c18b32d0e23ace55417a440abdb7e <
    76d588dddc459fefa1da96e0a081a397c5c8e216
  - Linux 4.14
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-11-05T20:14:47.564511Z'
published: '2025-03-27'
updated: '2026-11-05'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-05T20:20:54.820Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53031'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0c6d2a31026102d4738b47a610bed4401b9834f'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8cbeb60320ac45a8240b561c8ef466b86c34dedc'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a90d339f1f66be4a946769b565668e2bd0686dfa'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/424bcb570cb320d1d15238cd4c933522b90f78fa'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/76d588dddc459fefa1da96e0a081a397c5c8e216'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.0015
epssPercentile: 0.04187
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T22:38:31.753Z'
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

powerpc/imc-pmu: Fix use of mutex in IRQs disabled section

Current imc-pmu code triggers a WARNING with CONFIG_DEBUG_ATOMIC_SLEEP
and CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING enabled, while running a thread_imc event.

Command to trigger the warning:
  # perf stat -e thread_imc/CPM_CS_FROM_L4_MEM_X_DPTEG/ sleep 5

   Performance counter stats for 'sleep 5':

                   0      thread_imc/CPM_CS_FROM_L4_MEM_X_DPTEG/

         5.002117947 seconds time elapsed

         0.000131000 seconds user
         0.001063000 seconds sys

Below is snippet of the warning in dmesg:

  BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:580
  in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 1, non_block: 0, pid: 2869, name: perf-exec
  preempt_count: 2, expected: 0
  4 locks held by perf-exec/2869:
   #0: c00000004325c540 (&sig->cred_guard_mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: bprm_execve+0x64/0xa90
   #1: c00000004325c5d8 (&sig->exec_update_lock){++++}-{3:3}, at: begin_new_exec+0x460/0xef0
   #2: c0000003fa99d4e0 (&cpuctx_lock){-...}-{2:2}, at: perf_event_exec+0x290/0x510
   #3: c000000017ab8418 (&ctx->lock){....}-{2:2}, at: perf_event_exec+0x29c/0x510
  irq event stamp: 4806
  hardirqs last  enabled at (4805): [<c000000000f65b94>] _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x94/0xd0
  hardirqs last disabled at (4806): [<c0000000003fae44>] perf_event_exec+0x394/0x510
  softirqs last  enabled at (0): [<c00000000013c404>] copy_process+0xc34/0x1ff0
  softirqs last disabled at (0): [<0000000000000000>] 0x0
  CPU: 36 PID: 2869 Comm: perf-exec Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-00011-g1247637727f2 #61
  Hardware name: 8375-42A POWER9 0x4e1202 opal:v7.0-16-g9b85f7d961 PowerNV
  Call Trace:
    dump_stack_lvl+0x98/0xe0 (unreliable)
    __might_resched+0x2f8/0x310
    __mutex_lock+0x6c/0x13f0
    thread_imc_event_add+0xf4/0x1b0
    event_sched_in+0xe0/0x210
    merge_sched_in+0x1f0/0x600
    visit_groups_merge.isra.92.constprop.166+0x2bc/0x6c0
    ctx_flexible_sched_in+0xcc/0x140
    ctx_sched_in+0x20c/0x2a0
    ctx_resched+0x104/0x1c0
    perf_event_exec+0x340/0x510
    begin_new_exec+0x730/0xef0
    load_elf_binary+0x3f8/0x1e10
  ...
  do not call blocking ops when !TASK_RUNNING; state=2001 set at [<00000000fd63e7cf>] do_nanosleep+0x60/0x1a0
  WARNING: CPU: 36 PID: 2869 at kernel/sched/core.c:9912 __might_sleep+0x9c/0xb0
  CPU: 36 PID: 2869 Comm: sleep Tainted: G        W          6.2.0-rc2-00011-g1247637727f2 #61
  Hardware name: 8375-42A POWER9 0x4e1202 opal:v7.0-16-g9b85f7d961 PowerNV
  NIP:  c000000000194a1c LR: c000000000194a18 CTR: c000000000a78670
  REGS: c00000004d2134e0 TRAP: 0700   Tainted: G        W           (6.2.0-rc2-00011-g1247637727f2)
  MSR:  9000000000021033 <SF,HV,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE>  CR: 48002824  XER: 00000000
  CFAR: c00000000013fb64 IRQMASK: 1

The above warning triggered because the current imc-pmu code uses mutex
lock in interrupt disabled sections. The function mutex_lock()
internally calls __might_resched(), which will check if IRQs are
disabled and in case IRQs are disabled, it will trigger the warning.

Fix the issue by changing the mutex lock to spinlock.

[mpe: Fix comments, trim oops in change log, add reported-by tags]

## Affected

- `Linux >= 8f95faaac56c18b32d0e23ace55417a440abdb7e < d0c6d2a31026102d4738b47a610bed4401b9834f`
- `Linux >= 8f95faaac56c18b32d0e23ace55417a440abdb7e < 8cbeb60320ac45a8240b561c8ef466b86c34dedc`
- `Linux >= 8f95faaac56c18b32d0e23ace55417a440abdb7e < a90d339f1f66be4a946769b565668e2bd0686dfa`
- `Linux >= 8f95faaac56c18b32d0e23ace55417a440abdb7e < 424bcb570cb320d1d15238cd4c933522b90f78fa`
- `Linux >= 8f95faaac56c18b32d0e23ace55417a440abdb7e < 76d588dddc459fefa1da96e0a081a397c5c8e216`
- `Linux 4.14`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.