Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53485

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.14.324 / 4.19.293 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: jfs: Fix UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in dbAllocDmapLev Syzkaller reported the following issue: UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in fs/jfs/jfs_dmap.c:1965:6 index -84 is out of range for type 's8[341]' (aka 'signed char[341]') CPU: 1 PID: 4995 Comm: syz-executor146 Not tainted 6.4.0-rc6-syzkaller-00037-gb6dad5178cea #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 05/27/2023 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x1e7/0x2d0 lib/dump_stack.c:106 ubsan_epilogue lib/ubsan.c:217 [inline] __ubsan_handle_out_of_bounds+0x11c/0x150 lib/ubsan.c:348 dbAllocDmapLev+0x3e5/0x430 fs/jfs/jfs_dmap.c:1965 dbAllocCtl+0x113/0x920 fs/jfs/jfs_dmap.c:1809 dbAllocAG+0x28f/0x10b0 fs/jfs/jfs_dmap.c:1350 dbAlloc+0x658/0xca0 fs/jfs/jfs_dmap.c:874 dtSplitUp fs/jfs/jfs_dtree.c:974 [inline] dtInsert+0xda7/0x6b00 fs/jfs/jfs_dtree.c:863 jfs_create+0x7b6/0xbb0 fs/jfs/namei.c:137 lookup_open fs/namei.c:3492 [inline] open_last_lookups fs/namei.c:3560 [inline] path_openat+0x13df/0x3170 fs/namei.c:3788 do_filp_open+0x234/0x490 fs/namei.c:3818 do_sys_openat2+0x13f/0x500 fs/open.c:1356 do_sys_open fs/open.c:1372 [inline] __do_sys_openat fs/open.c:1388 [inline] __se_sys_openat fs/open.c:1383 [inline] __x64_sys_openat+0x247/0x290 fs/open.c:1383 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd RIP: 0033:0x7f1f4e33f7e9 Code: 28 00 00 00 75 05 48 83 c4 28 c3 e8 51 14 00 00 90 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 c0 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007ffc21129578 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000101 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f1f4e33f7e9 RDX: 000000000000275a RSI: 0000000020000040 RDI: 00000000ffffff9c RBP: 00007f1f4e2ff080 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007f1f4e2ff110 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000 </TASK> The bug occurs when the dbAllocDmapLev()function attempts to access dp->tree.stree[leafidx + LEAFIND] while the leafidx value is negative. To rectify this, the patch introduces a safeguard within the dbAllocDmapLev() function. A check has been added to verify if leafidx is negative. If it is, the function immediately returns an I/O error, preventing any further execution that could potentially cause harm. Tested via syzbot.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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:>= 2.6.12.1, < 4.14.324>= 4.15, < 4.19.293>= 4.20, < 5.4.255>= 5.5, < 5.10.192>= 5.11, < 5.15.123>= 5.16, < 6.1.42>= 6.2, < 6.4.7= 2.6.12

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 4.14.324 / 4.19.293 / 5.4.255 or later
Fixed in 4.14.3244.19.2935.4.255
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux kernel >= 5.10.192 (or >= 5.4.255, >= 4.19.293, or >= 4.14.324 depending on branch)

  1. 1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. 2. Check if the kernel version falls within the affected range: < 4.14.324, < 4.19.293, < 5.4.255, or < 5.10.192
  3. 3. If affected, schedule a maintenance window for kernel upgrade
  4. 4. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version >= 4.14.324 (for 4.14.x branches), >= 4.19.293 (for 4.19.x branches), >= 5.4.255 (for 5.4.x branches), or >= 5.10.192 (for 5.10.x and later branches such as 5.15, 6.1, 6.4 stable)
  5. 5. For enterprise distributions, apply the vendor's corresponding kernel security update
  6. 6. Reboot the system into the new kernel
  7. 7. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the JFS module loads without UBSAN errors
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require reboot and could introduce compatibility changes with custom modules or drivers; ensure testing 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 $1,950. 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-2023-53485 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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