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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-53584

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.18 / 6.2.5 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: ubifs: ubifs_releasepage: Remove ubifs_assert(0) to valid this process There are two states for ubifs writing pages: 1. Dirty, Private 2. Not Dirty, Not Private The normal process cannot go to ubifs_releasepage() which means there exists pages being private but not dirty. Reproducer[1] shows that it could occur (which maybe related to [2]) with following process: PA PB PC lock(page)[PA] ubifs_write_end attach_page_private // set Private __set_page_dirty_nobuffers // set Dirty unlock(page) write_cache_pages[PA] lock(page) clear_page_dirty_for_io(page) // clear Dirty ubifs_writepage do_truncation[PB] truncate_setsize i_size_write(inode, newsize) // newsize = 0 i_size = i_size_read(inode) // i_size = 0 end_index = i_size >> PAGE_SHIFT if (page->index > end_index) goto out // jump out: unlock(page) // Private, Not Dirty generic_fadvise[PC] lock(page) invalidate_inode_page try_to_release_page ubifs_releasepage ubifs_assert(c, 0) // bad assertion! unlock(page) truncate_pagecache[PB] Then we may get following assertion failed: UBIFS error (ubi0:0 pid 1683): ubifs_assert_failed [ubifs]: UBIFS assert failed: 0, in fs/ubifs/file.c:1513 UBIFS warning (ubi0:0 pid 1683): ubifs_ro_mode [ubifs]: switched to read-only mode, error -22 CPU: 2 PID: 1683 Comm: aa Not tainted 5.16.0-rc5-00184-g0bca5994cacc-dirty #308 Call Trace: dump_stack+0x13/0x1b ubifs_ro_mode+0x54/0x60 [ubifs] ubifs_assert_failed+0x4b/0x80 [ubifs] ubifs_releasepage+0x67/0x1d0 [ubifs] try_to_release_page+0x57/0xe0 invalidate_inode_page+0xfb/0x130 __invalidate_mapping_pages+0xb9/0x280 invalidate_mapping_pagevec+0x12/0x20 generic_fadvise+0x303/0x3c0 ksys_fadvise64_64+0x4c/0xb0 [1] https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=215373 [2] https://linux-mtd.infradead.narkive.com/NQoBeT1u/patch-rfc-ubifs-fix-assert-failed-in-ubifs-set-page-dirty

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-617

Attacker-controllable input can reach an assertion that aborts the process when it fails, so a check meant for debugging becomes a denial-of-service in production. A single crafted request takes the service down. The fix is to handle unexpected input gracefully on reachable paths rather than asserting on it.

General guidance for the reachable assertion 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:>= 2.6.27, < 6.1.18>= 6.2, < 6.2.5

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 6.1.18 / 6.2.5 or later
Fixed in 6.1.186.2.5
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.1.18 (for 6.1.x branch) or 6.2.5 (for 6.2.x branch)

  1. 1. Identify the current running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. 2. Check if the system is running a UBIFS-based embedded system (UBIFS is typically used on embedded devices with flash storage)
  3. 3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.1.18 or later for the 6.1.x stable branch, or to version 6.2.5 or later for the 6.2.x stable branch
  4. 4. For enterprise/embedded systems, obtain the kernel from your distribution's kernel package repository or build a custom kernel with the fix commit 66f4742e93523ab2f062d9d9828b3e590bc61536 applied
  5. 5. After kernel upgrade, reboot the system and verify the new kernel is running with 'uname -r'
  6. 6. Monitor system logs for any UBIFS-related errors after the upgrade
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebuilding custom kernel modules; ensure all hardware drivers and embedded system-specific modules are compatible with the target kernel version

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 $1,600. 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-2023-53584 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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