dbcve.org
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53081

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.10 / 4.14.312 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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: ocfs2: fix data corruption after failed write When buffered write fails to copy data into underlying page cache page, ocfs2_write_end_nolock() just zeroes out and dirties the page. This can leave dirty page beyond EOF and if page writeback tries to write this page before write succeeds and expands i_size, page gets into inconsistent state where page dirty bit is clear but buffer dirty bits stay set resulting in page data never getting written and so data copied to the page is lost. Fix the problem by invalidating page beyond EOF after failed write.

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-787

The program writes past the bounds of a buffer, overwriting adjacent memory an attacker can turn to their advantage. Crafted input can overwrite control data and redirect execution. Remediation is validating every index and length before a write, plus modern memory-safety mitigations.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds write 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:>= 4.9.242, < 4.10>= 4.14.204, < 4.14.312>= 4.19.155, < 4.19.280>= 5.4.75, < 5.4.240>= 5.9.5, < 5.10.177>= 5.11, < 5.15.105>= 5.16, < 6.1.21>= 6.2, < 6.2.8= 6.3

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 4.10 / 4.14.312 / 4.19.280 or later
Fixed in 4.104.14.3124.19.280
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 4.10 or later (for 4.9.x branch), 4.14.312 or later (for 4.14.x branch), 4.19.280 or later (for 4.19.x branch), or 5.4.240 or later (for 5.4.x branch)

  1. 1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. 2. Determine which version branch your current kernel belongs to (4.9.x, 4.14.x, 4.19.x, or 5.4.x)
  3. 3. Check if your current kernel version falls within the affected ranges: >= 4.9.242 but < 4.10, >= 4.14.204 but < 4.14.312, >= 4.19.155 but < 4.19.280, or >= 5.4.75 but < 5.4.240
  4. 4. If affected, upgrade to a fixed kernel version: upgrade to 4.10 or later for 4.9.x users, upgrade to 4.14.312 or later for 4.14.x users, upgrade to 4.19.280 or later for 4.19.x users, or upgrade to 5.4.240 or later for 5.4.x users
  5. 5. For systems using distribution kernels, apply vendor-supplied kernel updates that include the fix (commit 1629f6f522b2d058019710466a84b240683bbee3)
  6. 6. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebooting services and could have compatibility implications with custom modules or specific hardware drivers; ensure backup and test in non-production environment first

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,200. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-53081 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2023-53081 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data