CVE-2023-53538

  • Published: 2025-10-04T16:15:48.813

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—

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No related CWE found.

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How to fix CVE-2023-53538

CVE-2023-53538 is a unknown severity vulnerability affecting the affected product.

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] […]

Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public

How to Fix:

1 Identify affected systems

- Check if you're running the affected product

2 Immediate actions

- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access

3 Verification

- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)

4 Long-term prevention

- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations

Exploit Difficulty Assessment

HARD
⏱️ Time to Exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Skills Required: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public Exploits: Rare or not public

Vulnerability Timeline

Oct 04, 2025
Vulnerability Published

CVE details first published to NVD database

Nov 12, 2025
Imported to Database

Added to this CVE tracking system

Detection Rules & IOCs

No specific detection rules generated for this vulnerability type.

No vendor/product data available.