Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-52933

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-03-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.5 / 4.10 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Squashfs: fix handling and sanity checking of xattr_ids count A Sysbot [1] corrupted filesystem exposes two flaws in the handling and sanity checking of the xattr_ids count in the filesystem. Both of these flaws cause computation overflow due to incorrect typing. In the corrupted filesystem the xattr_ids value is 4294967071, which stored in a signed variable becomes the negative number -225. Flaw 1 (64-bit systems only): The signed integer xattr_ids variable causes sign extension. This causes variable overflow in the SQUASHFS_XATTR_*(A) macros. The variable is first multiplied by sizeof(struct squashfs_xattr_id) where the type of the sizeof operator is "unsigned long". On a 64-bit system this is 64-bits in size, and causes the negative number to be sign extended and widened to 64-bits and then become unsigned. This produces the very large number 18446744073709548016 or 2^64 - 3600. This number when rounded up by SQUASHFS_METADATA_SIZE - 1 (8191 bytes) and divided by SQUASHFS_METADATA_SIZE overflows and produces a length of 0 (stored in len). Flaw 2 (32-bit systems only): On a 32-bit system the integer variable is not widened by the unsigned long type of the sizeof operator (32-bits), and the signedness of the variable has no effect due it always being treated as unsigned. The above corrupted xattr_ids value of 4294967071, when multiplied overflows and produces the number 4294963696 or 2^32 - 3400. This number when rounded up by SQUASHFS_METADATA_SIZE - 1 (8191 bytes) and divided by SQUASHFS_METADATA_SIZE overflows again and produces a length of 0. The effect of the 0 length computation: In conjunction with the corrupted xattr_ids field, the filesystem also has a corrupted xattr_table_start value, where it matches the end of filesystem value of 850. This causes the following sanity check code to fail because the incorrectly computed len of 0 matches the incorrect size of the table reported by the superblock (0 bytes). len = SQUASHFS_XATTR_BLOCK_BYTES(*xattr_ids); indexes = SQUASHFS_XATTR_BLOCKS(*xattr_ids); /* * The computed size of the index table (len bytes) should exactly * match the table start and end points */ start = table_start + sizeof(*id_table); end = msblk->bytes_used; if (len != (end - start)) return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL); Changing the xattr_ids variable to be "usigned int" fixes the flaw on a 64-bit system. This relies on the fact the computation is widened by the unsigned long type of the sizeof operator. Casting the variable to u64 in the above macro fixes this flaw on a 32-bit system. It also means 64-bit systems do not implicitly rely on the type of the sizeof operator to widen the computation. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/[email protected]/

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-190

An arithmetic operation produces a value too large for its type and wraps around to an unexpected — often tiny or negative — number. That miscalculated value then drives a memory allocation or a bounds check, opening the door to corruption. The fix is checked arithmetic and validating sizes before they're used.

General guidance for the integer overflow class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 4.4.258, < 4.5>= 4.9.258, < 4.10>= 4.14.222, < 4.14.306>= 4.19.176, < 4.19.273>= 5.4.98, < 5.4.232>= 5.10.16, < 5.10.168>= 5.11.1, < 5.15.93>= 5.16, < 6.1.11= 5.11= 6.2

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.5 / 4.10 / 4.14.306 or later
Fixed in 4.54.104.14.306
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux kernel >= 4.14.306 (for 4.14.x) or >= 4.19.273 (for 4.19.x) or >= 4.10 (for 4.9.x) or >= 4.5 (for 4.4.x). Note: 4.4.x and 4.9.x branches are end-of-life; migrate to a maintained stable branch.

  1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Determine which affected kernel series your system is running (4.4.x, 4.9.x, 4.14.x, or 4.19.x)
  3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed version: for 4.4.x upgrade to >= 4.5, for 4.9.x upgrade to >= 4.10, for 4.14.x upgrade to >= 4.14.306, for 4.19.x upgrade to >= 4.19.273
  4. On Debian/Ubuntu-based systems: run 'apt update && apt upgrade' or install specific kernel package
  5. On RHEL/CentOS-based systems: run 'yum update kernel' or 'dnf update kernel'
  6. Reboot the system to load the new kernel using 'systemctl reboot'
  7. Verify the new kernel version is running with 'uname -r' and confirm it is a fixed version
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebooting and could have compatibility issues with custom modules or older software. The 4.4.x and 4.9.x branches are end-of-life; consider migrating to a newer stable branch like 5.x or 6.x.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-52933 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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