CVE-2023-53538
btrfs: insert tree mod log move in push_node_left
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: insert tree mod log move in push_node_left There is a fairly unlikely race condition in tree mod log rewind that can result in a kernel panic which has the following trace: [530.569] BTRFS critical (device sda3): unable to find logical 0 length 4096 [530.585] BTRFS critical (device sda3): unable to find logical 0 length 4096 [530.602] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000002 [530.618] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [530.629] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [530.641] PGD 0 P4D 0 [530.647] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP [530.654] CPU: 30 PID: 398973 Comm: below Kdump: loaded Tainted: G S O K 5.12.0-0_fbk13_clang_7455_gb24de3bdb045 #1 [530.680] Hardware name: Quanta Mono Lake-M.2 SATA 1HY9U9Z001G/Mono Lake-M.2 SATA, BIOS F20_3A15 08/16/2017 [530.703] RIP: 0010:__btrfs_map_block+0xaa/0xd00 [530.755] RSP: 0018:ffffc9002c2f7600 EFLAGS: 00010246 [530.767] RAX: ffffffffffffffea RBX: ffff888292e41000 RCX: f2702d8b8be15100 [530.784] RDX: ffff88885fda6fb8 RSI: ffff88885fd973c8 RDI: ffff88885fd973c8 [530.800] RBP: ffff888292e410d0 R08: ffffffff82fd7fd0 R09: 00000000fffeffff [530.816] R10: ffffffff82e57fd0 R11: ffffffff82e57d70 R12: 0000000000000000 [530.832] R13: 0000000000001000 R14: 0000000000001000 R15: ffffc9002c2f76f0 [530.848] FS: 00007f38d64af000(0000) GS:ffff88885fd80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [530.866] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [530.880] CR2: 0000000000000002 CR3: 00000002b6770004 CR4: 00000000003706e0 [530.896] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [530.912] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [530.928] Call Trace: [530.934] ? btrfs_printk+0x13b/0x18c [530.943] ? btrfs_bio_counter_inc_blocked+0x3d/0x130 [530.955] btrfs_map_bio+0x75/0x330 [530.963] ? kmem_cache_alloc+0x12a/0x2d0 [530.973] ? btrfs_submit_metadata_bio+0x63/0x100 [530.984] btrfs_submit_metadata_bio+0xa4/0x100 [530.995] submit_extent_page+0x30f/0x360 [531.004] read_extent_buffer_pages+0x49e/0x6d0 [531.015] ? submit_extent_page+0x360/0x360 [531.025] btree_read_extent_buffer_pages+0x5f/0x150 [531.037] read_tree_block+0x37/0x60 [531.046] read_block_for_search+0x18b/0x410 [531.056] btrfs_search_old_slot+0x198/0x2f0 [531.066] resolve_indirect_ref+0xfe/0x6f0 [531.076] ? ulist_alloc+0x31/0x60 [531.084] ? kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0x12e/0x2b0 [531.095] find_parent_nodes+0x720/0x1830 [531.105] ? ulist_alloc+0x10/0x60 [531.113] iterate_extent_inodes+0xea/0x370 [531.123] ? btrfs_previous_extent_item+0x8f/0x110 [531.134] ? btrfs_search_path_in_tree+0x240/0x240 [531.146] iterate_inodes_from_logical+0x98/0xd0 [531.157] ? btrfs_search_path_in_tree+0x240/0x240 [531.168] btrfs_ioctl_logical_to_ino+0xd9/0x180 [531.179] btrfs_ioctl+0xe2/0x2eb0 This occurs when logical inode resolution takes a tree mod log sequence number, and then while backref walking hits a rewind on a busy node which has the following sequence of tree mod log operations (numbers filled in from a specific example, but they are somewhat arbitrary) REMOVE_WHILE_FREEING slot 532 REMOVE_WHILE_FREEING slot 531 REMOVE_WHILE_FREEING slot 530 ... REMOVE_WHILE_FREEING slot 0 REMOVE slot 455 REMOVE slot 454 REMOVE slot 453 ... REMOVE slot 0 ADD slot 455 ADD slot 454 ADD slot 453 ... ADD slot 0 MOVE src slot 0 -> dst slot 456 nritems 533 REMOVE slot 455 REMOVE slot 454 REMOVE slot 453 ... REMOVE slot 0 When this sequence gets applied via btrfs_tree_mod_log_rewind, it allocates a fresh rewind eb, and first inserts the correct key info for the 533 elements, then overwrites the first 456 of them, then decrements the count by 456 via the add ops, then rewinds the move by doing a memmove from 456:988->0:532. We have never written anything past 532, ---truncated---
INFO
Published Date :
Oct. 4, 2025, 4:15 p.m.
Last Modified :
Oct. 6, 2025, 2:56 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
No
Source :
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Solution
- Update the Linux kernel to a patched version.
- Apply relevant security patches for btrfs.
- Reboot the system after updates.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2023-53538.
| URL | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11f14402fe3437852cb44945b3b9f1bdb4032956 | |
| https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5cead5422a0e3d13b0bcee986c0f5c4ebb94100b |
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2023-53538 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2023-53538
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2023-53538 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2023-53538 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
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New CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Oct. 04, 2025
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: insert tree mod log move in push_node_left There is a fairly unlikely race condition in tree mod log rewind that can result in a kernel panic which has the following trace: [530.569] BTRFS critical (device sda3): unable to find logical 0 length 4096 [530.585] BTRFS critical (device sda3): unable to find logical 0 length 4096 [530.602] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000002 [530.618] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [530.629] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [530.641] PGD 0 P4D 0 [530.647] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP [530.654] CPU: 30 PID: 398973 Comm: below Kdump: loaded Tainted: G S O K 5.12.0-0_fbk13_clang_7455_gb24de3bdb045 #1 [530.680] Hardware name: Quanta Mono Lake-M.2 SATA 1HY9U9Z001G/Mono Lake-M.2 SATA, BIOS F20_3A15 08/16/2017 [530.703] RIP: 0010:__btrfs_map_block+0xaa/0xd00 [530.755] RSP: 0018:ffffc9002c2f7600 EFLAGS: 00010246 [530.767] RAX: ffffffffffffffea RBX: ffff888292e41000 RCX: f2702d8b8be15100 [530.784] RDX: ffff88885fda6fb8 RSI: ffff88885fd973c8 RDI: ffff88885fd973c8 [530.800] RBP: ffff888292e410d0 R08: ffffffff82fd7fd0 R09: 00000000fffeffff [530.816] R10: ffffffff82e57fd0 R11: ffffffff82e57d70 R12: 0000000000000000 [530.832] R13: 0000000000001000 R14: 0000000000001000 R15: ffffc9002c2f76f0 [530.848] FS: 00007f38d64af000(0000) GS:ffff88885fd80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [530.866] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [530.880] CR2: 0000000000000002 CR3: 00000002b6770004 CR4: 00000000003706e0 [530.896] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [530.912] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [530.928] Call Trace: [530.934] ? btrfs_printk+0x13b/0x18c [530.943] ? btrfs_bio_counter_inc_blocked+0x3d/0x130 [530.955] btrfs_map_bio+0x75/0x330 [530.963] ? kmem_cache_alloc+0x12a/0x2d0 [530.973] ? btrfs_submit_metadata_bio+0x63/0x100 [530.984] btrfs_submit_metadata_bio+0xa4/0x100 [530.995] submit_extent_page+0x30f/0x360 [531.004] read_extent_buffer_pages+0x49e/0x6d0 [531.015] ? submit_extent_page+0x360/0x360 [531.025] btree_read_extent_buffer_pages+0x5f/0x150 [531.037] read_tree_block+0x37/0x60 [531.046] read_block_for_search+0x18b/0x410 [531.056] btrfs_search_old_slot+0x198/0x2f0 [531.066] resolve_indirect_ref+0xfe/0x6f0 [531.076] ? ulist_alloc+0x31/0x60 [531.084] ? kmem_cache_alloc_trace+0x12e/0x2b0 [531.095] find_parent_nodes+0x720/0x1830 [531.105] ? ulist_alloc+0x10/0x60 [531.113] iterate_extent_inodes+0xea/0x370 [531.123] ? btrfs_previous_extent_item+0x8f/0x110 [531.134] ? btrfs_search_path_in_tree+0x240/0x240 [531.146] iterate_inodes_from_logical+0x98/0xd0 [531.157] ? btrfs_search_path_in_tree+0x240/0x240 [531.168] btrfs_ioctl_logical_to_ino+0xd9/0x180 [531.179] btrfs_ioctl+0xe2/0x2eb0 This occurs when logical inode resolution takes a tree mod log sequence number, and then while backref walking hits a rewind on a busy node which has the following sequence of tree mod log operations (numbers filled in from a specific example, but they are somewhat arbitrary) REMOVE_WHILE_FREEING slot 532 REMOVE_WHILE_FREEING slot 531 REMOVE_WHILE_FREEING slot 530 ... REMOVE_WHILE_FREEING slot 0 REMOVE slot 455 REMOVE slot 454 REMOVE slot 453 ... REMOVE slot 0 ADD slot 455 ADD slot 454 ADD slot 453 ... ADD slot 0 MOVE src slot 0 -> dst slot 456 nritems 533 REMOVE slot 455 REMOVE slot 454 REMOVE slot 453 ... REMOVE slot 0 When this sequence gets applied via btrfs_tree_mod_log_rewind, it allocates a fresh rewind eb, and first inserts the correct key info for the 533 elements, then overwrites the first 456 of them, then decrements the count by 456 via the add ops, then rewinds the move by doing a memmove from 456:988->0:532. We have never written anything past 532, ---truncated--- Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11f14402fe3437852cb44945b3b9f1bdb4032956 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5cead5422a0e3d13b0bcee986c0f5c4ebb94100b