Vulnerability · Published Sep 16, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2023-53311nilfs2: fix use-after-free of nilfs_root in dirtying inodes via iput

High 7.8

In plain English

A high-severity use-after-free in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 6% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.8High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 94.4% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nilfs2: fix use-after-free of nilfs_root in dirtying inodes via iput During unmount process of nilfs2, nothing holds nilfs_root structure after nilfs2 detaches its writer in nilfs_detach_log_writer(). Previously, nilfs_evict_inode() could cause use-after-free read for nilfs_root if inodes are left in "garbage_list" and released by nilfs_dispose_list at the end of nilfs_detach_log_writer(), and this bug was fixed by commit 9b5a04ac3ad9 ("nilfs2: fix use-after-free bug of nilfs_root in nilfs_evict_inode()"). However, it turned out that there is another possibility of UAF in the call path where mark_inode_dirty_sync() is called from iput(): nilfs_detach_log_writer() nilfs_dispose_list() iput() mark_inode_dirty_sync() __mark_inode_dirty() nilfs_dirty_inode() __nilfs_mark_inode_dirty() nilfs_load_inode_block() --> causes UAF of nilfs_root struct This can happen after commit 0ae45f63d4ef ("vfs: add support for a lazytime mount option"), which changed iput() to call mark_inode_dirty_sync() on its final reference if i_state has I_DIRTY_TIME flag and i_nlink is non-zero. This issue appears after commit 28a65b49eb53 ("nilfs2: do not write dirty data after degenerating to read-only") when using the syzbot reproducer, but the issue has potentially existed before. Fix this issue by adding a "purging flag" to the nilfs structure, setting that flag while disposing the "garbage_list" and checking it in __nilfs_mark_inode_dirty(). Unlike commit 9b5a04ac3ad9 ("nilfs2: fix use-after-free bug of nilfs_root in nilfs_evict_inode()"), this patch does not rely on ns_writer to determine whether to skip operations, so as not to break recovery on mount. The nilfs_salvage_orphan_logs routine dirties the buffer of salvaged data before attaching the log writer, so changing __nilfs_mark_inode_dirty() to skip the operation when ns_writer is NULL will cause recovery write to fail. The purpose of using the cleanup-only flag is to allow for narrowing of such conditions.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.52-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53311
Debian:13linux6.4.11-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53311
Debian:14linux6.4.11-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-91.101UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1051.56UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure5.15.0-1053.61UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde5.15.0-1053.61.1UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1048.56UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1048.53UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1034.40UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1044.47UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-intelno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1046.52UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1048.53UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-91.101UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1042.42UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1020.20UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1007.7UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1049.55UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspi5.15.0-1044.47UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1027.31UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53311

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 0ae45f63d4ef8d8eeec49c7d8b44a1775fff13e8 – before 11afd67f1b3c28eb216e50a3ca8dbcb69bb717930ae45f63d4ef8d8eeec49c7d8b44a1775fff13e8 – before a3c3b4cbf9b8554120fb230e6516e980c62774870ae45f63d4ef8d8eeec49c7d8b44a1775fff13e8 – before d2c539c216cce74837a9cf5804eb205939b822270ae45f63d4ef8d8eeec49c7d8b44a1775fff13e8 – before 37207240872456fbab44a110bde66404452339630ae45f63d4ef8d8eeec49c7d8b44a1775fff13e8 – before 3645510cf926e6af2f4d44899370d7e5331c93bd0ae45f63d4ef8d8eeec49c7d8b44a1775fff13e8 – before 7532ff6edbf5242376b24a95a2fefb59bb653e5a0ae45f63d4ef8d8eeec49c7d8b44a1775fff13e8 – before 5828d5f5dc877dcfdd7b23102e978e2ecfd86d820ae45f63d4ef8d8eeec49c7d8b44a1775fff13e8 – before f8654743a0e6909dc634cbfad6db6816f10f3399
Linux Linux 4.0

Weakness: CWE-416 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References