nilfs2: fix sysfs interface lifetime
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-476.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nilfs2: fix sysfs interface lifetime The current nilfs2 sysfs support has issues with the timing of creation and deletion of sysfs entries, potentially leading to null pointer dereferences, use-after-free, and lockdep warnings. Some of the sysfs attributes for nilfs2 per-filesystem instance refer to metadata file "cpfile", "sufile", or "dat", but nilfs_sysfs_create_device_group that creates those attributes is executed before the inodes for these metadata files are loaded, and nilfs_sysfs_delete_device_group which deletes these sysfs entries is called after releasing their metadata file inodes. Therefore, access to some of these sysfs attributes may occur outside of the lifetime of these metadata files, resulting in inode NULL pointer dereferences or use-after-free. In addition, the call to nilfs_sysfs_create_device_group() is made during the locking period of the semaphore "ns_sem" of nilfs object, so the shrinker call caused by the memory allocation for the sysfs entries, may derive lock dependencies "ns_sem" -> (shrinker) -> "locks acquired in nilfs_evict_inode()". Since nilfs2 may acquire "ns_sem" deep in the call stack holding other locks via its error handler __nilfs_error(), this causes lockdep to report circular locking. This is a false positive and no circular locking actually occurs as no inodes exist yet when nilfs_sysfs_create_device_group() is called. Fortunately, the lockdep warnings can be resolved by simply moving the call to nilfs_sysfs_create_device_group() out of "ns_sem". This fixes these sysfs issues by revising where the device's sysfs interface is created/deleted and keeping its lifetime within the lifetime of the metadata files above.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 3.17 and later | 4.14.313, 4.19.281, 5.4.241, 5.10.178, 5.15.107, 6.1.24, 6.2.11, 6.3 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 3.17 and later Fixed in 4.14.313, 4.19.281, 5.4.241, 5.10.178, 5.15.107, 6.1.24, 6.2.11, 6.3 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 6
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 3.17 to before 4.14.313; 4.15 to before 4.19.281; 4.20 to before 5.4.241; 5.5 to before 5.10.178; 5.11 to before 5.15.107; 5.16 to before 6.1.24; 6.2 to before 6.2.11 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.3 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.3 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.3 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.3 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.3 rc5 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 3.17 to before 4.14.313; 4.15 to before 4.19.281; 4.20 to before 5.4.241; 5.5 to before 5.10.178; 5.11 to before 5.15.107; 5.16 to before 6.1.24; 6.2 to before 6.2.11 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.3 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.3 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.3 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.3 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.3:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.3 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 4.14.313, 4.19.281, 5.4.241, 5.10.178, 5.15.107, 6.1.24, 6.2.11, 6.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 5 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-53440
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-v99g-2hwc-34c3
- 2026-11-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Patch 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d20dcec8f326deb77b6688f8441e014045dac457
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5fe0ea141fbb887d407f1bf572ebf24427480d5c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/83b16a60e413148685739635901937e2f16a7873
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3dbee84bf9e3273c4bb9ca6fc18ff22fba23dd24
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d540aea451ab5489777a8156560f1388449b3109
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1942ccb7d95f287a312fcbabfa8bc9ba501b1953
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/daf4eb3a908b108279b60172d2f176e70d2df875
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/42560f9c92cc43dce75dbf06cc0d840dced39b12
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Sources
- CVE-2023-53440 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-53440 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-v99g-2hwc-34c3 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-53440 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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