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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53194

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.15.113 / 6.1.81 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: fs/ntfs3: Add length check in indx_get_root This adds a length check to guarantee the retrieved index root is legit. [ 162.459513] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320 [ 162.460176] Read of size 2 at addr ffff8880037bca99 by task mount/243 [ 162.460851] [ 162.461252] CPU: 0 PID: 243 Comm: mount Not tainted 6.0.0-rc7 #42 [ 162.461744] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 162.462609] Call Trace: [ 162.462954] <TASK> [ 162.463276] dump_stack_lvl+0x49/0x63 [ 162.463822] print_report.cold+0xf5/0x689 [ 162.464608] ? unwind_get_return_address+0x3a/0x60 [ 162.465766] ? hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320 [ 162.466975] kasan_report+0xa7/0x130 [ 162.467506] ? _raw_spin_lock_irq+0xc0/0xf0 [ 162.467998] ? hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320 [ 162.468536] __asan_load2+0x68/0x90 [ 162.468923] hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x10c/0x320 [ 162.469282] ? cmp_uints+0xe0/0xe0 [ 162.469557] ? cmp_sdh+0x90/0x90 [ 162.469864] ? ni_find_attr+0x214/0x300 [ 162.470217] ? ni_load_mi+0x80/0x80 [ 162.470479] ? entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd [ 162.470931] ? ntfs_bread_run+0x190/0x190 [ 162.471307] ? indx_get_root+0xe4/0x190 [ 162.471556] ? indx_get_root+0x140/0x190 [ 162.471833] ? indx_init+0x1e0/0x1e0 [ 162.472069] ? fnd_clear+0x115/0x140 [ 162.472363] ? _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x100/0x100 [ 162.472731] indx_find+0x184/0x470 [ 162.473461] ? sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x57/0xc0 [ 162.474429] ? indx_find_buffer+0x2d0/0x2d0 [ 162.474704] ? do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 [ 162.474962] dir_search_u+0x196/0x2f0 [ 162.475381] ? ntfs_nls_to_utf16+0x450/0x450 [ 162.475661] ? ntfs_security_init+0x3d6/0x440 [ 162.475906] ? is_sd_valid+0x180/0x180 [ 162.476191] ntfs_extend_init+0x13f/0x2c0 [ 162.476496] ? ntfs_fix_post_read+0x130/0x130 [ 162.476861] ? iput.part.0+0x286/0x320 [ 162.477325] ntfs_fill_super+0x11e0/0x1b50 [ 162.477709] ? put_ntfs+0x1d0/0x1d0 [ 162.477970] ? vsprintf+0x20/0x20 [ 162.478258] ? set_blocksize+0x95/0x150 [ 162.478538] get_tree_bdev+0x232/0x370 [ 162.478789] ? put_ntfs+0x1d0/0x1d0 [ 162.479038] ntfs_fs_get_tree+0x15/0x20 [ 162.479374] vfs_get_tree+0x4c/0x130 [ 162.479729] path_mount+0x654/0xfe0 [ 162.480124] ? putname+0x80/0xa0 [ 162.480484] ? finish_automount+0x2e0/0x2e0 [ 162.480894] ? putname+0x80/0xa0 [ 162.481467] ? kmem_cache_free+0x1c4/0x440 [ 162.482280] ? putname+0x80/0xa0 [ 162.482714] do_mount+0xd6/0xf0 [ 162.483264] ? path_mount+0xfe0/0xfe0 [ 162.484782] ? __kasan_check_write+0x14/0x20 [ 162.485593] __x64_sys_mount+0xca/0x110 [ 162.486024] do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 [ 162.486543] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd [ 162.487141] RIP: 0033:0x7f9d374e948a [ 162.488324] Code: 48 8b 0d 11 fa 2a 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 83 c8 ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 49 89 ca b8 a5 00 00 008 [ 162.489728] RSP: 002b:00007ffe30e73d18 EFLAGS: 00000206 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000a5 [ 162.490971] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000561cdb43a060 RCX: 00007f9d374e948a [ 162.491669] RDX: 0000561cdb43a260 RSI: 0000561cdb43a2e0 RDI: 0000561cdb442af0 [ 162.492050] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000561cdb43a280 R09: 0000000000000020 [ 162.492459] R10: 00000000c0ed0000 R11: 0000000000000206 R12: 0000561cdb442af0 [ 162.493183] R13: 0000561cdb43a260 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 00000000ffffffff [ 162.493644] </TASK> [ 162.493908] [ 162.494214] The buggy address belongs to the physical page: [ 162.494761] page:000000003e38a3d5 refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x37bc [ 162.496064] flags: 0xfffffc0000000(node=0|zone=1|lastcpupid=0x1fffff) [ 162.497278] raw: 000fffffc0000000 ffffea00000df1c8 ffffea00000df008 0000000000000000 [ 162.498928] raw: 0000000000000000 0000000000240000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 [ 162.500542] page dumped becau ---truncated---

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-416

Memory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.

General guidance for the use after free 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, < 5.15.113>= 5.16, < 6.1.81>= 6.2, < 6.3.4

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 5.15.113 / 6.1.81 / 6.3.4 or later
Fixed in 5.15.1136.1.816.3.4
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel >= 5.15.113, >= 6.1.81, or >= 6.3.4 (depending on branch)

  1. Identify current kernel version using `uname -r` or `cat /proc/version`
  2. Determine which kernel branch you are running (5.15.x, 5.16-6.1.x, or 6.2-6.3.x)
  3. For 5.15.x branch: upgrade to kernel version 5.15.113 or later
  4. For 5.16-6.1.x branch: upgrade to kernel version 6.1.81 or later
  5. For 6.2-6.3.x branch: upgrade to kernel version 6.3.4 or later
  6. Apply the kernel upgrade using your distribution's package manager (e.g., apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade, yum update, dnf update)
  7. Reboot the system to load the new kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebooting the system and could have compatibility implications with third-party kernel modules or specific hardware drivers

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

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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-2023-53194 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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