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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53091

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.15.104 / 6.1.21 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: ext4: update s_journal_inum if it changes after journal replay When mounting a crafted ext4 image, s_journal_inum may change after journal replay, which is obviously unreasonable because we have successfully loaded and replayed the journal through the old s_journal_inum. And the new s_journal_inum bypasses some of the checks in ext4_get_journal(), which may trigger a null pointer dereference problem. So if s_journal_inum changes after the journal replay, we ignore the change, and rewrite the current journal_inum to the superblock.

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-476

The code follows a pointer that is null, crashing the process. An attacker who can reliably trigger it turns the crash into a denial of service. The fix is checking for null before use and handling the failure path gracefully.

General guidance for the null pointer dereference 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:< 5.15.104>= 5.16, < 6.1.21>= 6.2, < 6.2.8

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 5.15.104 / 6.1.21 / 6.2.8 or later
Fixed in 5.15.1046.1.216.2.8
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 5.15.104, 6.1.21, or 6.2.8 (or any later stable release)

  1. 1. Identify the currently running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. 2. Check if the current version is within the affected range: < 5.15.104, >= 5.16 and < 6.1.21, or >= 6.2 and < 6.2.8
  3. 3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed version: 5.15.104 or higher, 6.1.21 or higher, or 6.2.8 or higher
  4. 4. For distribution-managed systems, use the appropriate package manager (e.g., 'apt-get update && apt-get upgrade', 'yum update', or 'dnf update') to install the updated kernel package
  5. 5. For manual builds, obtain the fixed kernel source from https://www.kernel.org/ and compile the new kernel
  6. 6. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuilding third-party kernel modules (e.g., proprietary drivers) and should be tested in a 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 $2,850. Get the upgrade done

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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-2023-53091 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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