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🛡️ CVE-2023-53089 — kernel

🟡 CVSS 5.5 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
5.5
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

ext4: fix task hung in ext4_xattr_delete_inode

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ext4: fix task hung in ext4_xattr_delete_inode

Syzbot reported a hung task problem:

==================================================================

INFO: task syz-executor232:5073 blocked for more than 143 seconds.

Not tainted 6.2.0-rc2-syzkaller-00024-g512dee0c00ad #0

"echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.

task:syz-exec232 state:D stack:21024 pid:5073 ppid:5072 flags:0x00004004

Call Trace:

<TASK>

context_switch kernel/sched/core.c:5244 [inline]

__schedule+0x995/0xe20 kernel/sched/core.c:6555

schedule+0xcb/0x190 kernel/sched/core.c:6631

__wait_on_freeing_inode fs/inode.c:2196 [inline]

find_inode_fast+0x35a/0x4c0 fs/inode.c:950

iget_locked+0xb1/0x830 fs/inode.c:1273

__ext4_iget+0x22e/0x3ed0 fs/ext4/inode.c:4861

ext4_xattr_inode_iget+0x68/0x4e0 fs/ext4/xattr.c:389

ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0x1a7/0xe50 fs/ext4/xattr.c:1148

ext4_xattr_delete_inode+0xb04/0xcd0 fs/ext4/xattr.c:2880

ext4_evict_inode+0xd7c/0x10b0 fs/ext4/inode.c:296

evict+0x2a4/0x620 fs/inode.c:664

ext4_orphan_cleanup+0xb60/0x1340 fs/ext4/orphan.c:474

__ext4_fill_super fs/ext4/super.c:5516 [inline]

ext4_fill_super+0x81cd/0x8700 fs/ext4/super.c:5644

get_tree_bdev+0x400/0x620 fs/super.c:1282

vfs_get_tree+0x88/0x270 fs/super.c:1489

do_new_mount+0x289/0xad0 fs/namespace.c:3145

do_mount fs/namespace.c:3488 [inline]

__do_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:3697 [inline]

__se_sys_mount+0x2d3/0x3c0 fs/namespace.c:3674

do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]

do_syscall_64+0x3d/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80

entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

RIP: 0033:0x7fa5406fd5ea

RSP: 002b:00007ffc7232f968 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000a5

RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000003 RCX: 00007fa5406fd5ea

RDX: 0000000020000440 RSI: 0000000020000000 RDI: 00007ffc7232f970

RBP: 00007ffc7232f970 R08: 00007ffc7232f9b0 R09: 0000000000000432

R10: 0000000000804a03 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 0000000000000004

R13: 0000555556a7a2c0 R14: 00007ffc7232f9b0 R15: 0000000000000000

</TASK>

==================================================================

The problem is that the inode contains an xattr entry with ea_inum of 15

when cleaning up an orphan inode <15>. When evict inode <15>, the reference

counting of the corresponding EA inode is decreased. When EA inode <15> is

found by find_inode_fast() in __ext4_iget(), it is found that the EA inode

holds the I_FREEING flag and waits for the EA inode to complete deletion.

As a result, when inode <15> is being deleted, we wait for inode <15> to

complete the deletion, resulting in an infinite loop and triggering Hung

Task. To solve this problem, we only need to check whether the ino of EA

inode and parent is the same before getting EA inode.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: None.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Affected software

CVE-2023-53089 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.2.0 up to 6.2.8)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.2 up to 6.2.8)

Timeline and source

Published on 2 May 2025 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

Other advisories for this package

kernel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

CVE-2023-53089 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity Medium
CVSS Score 5.5
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2025-05-02
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.2.0 6.2.8
linux-kernel 6.2 6.2.8

References

Similar Threats

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ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the vulnerabilities listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.

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