CVE-2023-54196

EPSS 0.0%
  • Published: 2025-12-30T13:16:07.653

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

fs/ntfs3: Fix NULL pointer dereference in ‘ni_write_inode’

Syzbot found the following issue:
Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000016
Mem abort info:
ESR = 0x0000000096000006
EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
SET = 0, FnV = 0
EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
FSC = 0x06: level 2 translation fault
Data abort info:
ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000006
CM = 0, WnR = 0
user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=000000010af56000
[0000000000000016] pgd=08000001090da003, p4d=08000001090da003, pud=08000001090ce003, pmd=0000000000000000
Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000006 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
Modules linked in:
CPU: 1 PID: 3036 Comm: syz-executor206 Not tainted 6.0.0-rc6-syzkaller-17739-g16c9f284e746 #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 08/26/2022
pstate: 80400005 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=–)
pc : is_rec_inuse fs/ntfs3/ntfs.h:313 [inline]
pc : ni_write_inode+0xac/0x798 fs/ntfs3/frecord.c:3232
lr : ni_write_inode+0xa0/0x798 fs/ntfs3/frecord.c:3226
sp : ffff8000126c3800
x29: ffff8000126c3860 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: ffff0000c8b02000
x26: ffff0000c7502320 x25: ffff0000c7502288 x24: 0000000000000000
x23: ffff80000cbec91c x22: ffff0000c8b03000 x21: ffff0000c8b02000
x20: 0000000000000001 x19: ffff0000c75024d8 x18: 00000000000000c0
x17: ffff80000dd1b198 x16: ffff80000db59158 x15: ffff0000c4b6b500
x14: 00000000000000b8 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: ffff0000c4b6b500
x11: ff80800008be1b60 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : ffff0000c4b6b500
x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : ffff800008be1b50 x6 : 0000000000000000
x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000001 x3 : 0000000000000000
x2 : 0000000000000008 x1 : 0000000000000001 x0 : 0000000000000000
Call trace:
is_rec_inuse fs/ntfs3/ntfs.h:313 [inline]
ni_write_inode+0xac/0x798 fs/ntfs3/frecord.c:3232
ntfs_evict_inode+0x54/0x84 fs/ntfs3/inode.c:1744
evict+0xec/0x334 fs/inode.c:665
iput_final fs/inode.c:1748 [inline]
iput+0x2c4/0x324 fs/inode.c:1774
ntfs_new_inode+0x7c/0xe0 fs/ntfs3/fsntfs.c:1660
ntfs_create_inode+0x20c/0xe78 fs/ntfs3/inode.c:1278
ntfs_create+0x54/0x74 fs/ntfs3/namei.c:100
lookup_open fs/namei.c:3413 [inline]
open_last_lookups fs/namei.c:3481 [inline]
path_openat+0x804/0x11c4 fs/namei.c:3688
do_filp_open+0xdc/0x1b8 fs/namei.c:3718
do_sys_openat2+0xb8/0x22c fs/open.c:1311
do_sys_open fs/open.c:1327 [inline]
__do_sys_openat fs/open.c:1343 [inline]
__se_sys_openat fs/open.c:1338 [inline]
__arm64_sys_openat+0xb0/0xe0 fs/open.c:1338
__invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:38 [inline]
invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:52 [inline]
el0_svc_common+0x138/0x220 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:142
do_el0_svc+0x48/0x164 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:206
el0_svc+0x58/0x150 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:636
el0t_64_sync_handler+0x84/0xf0 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:654
el0t_64_sync+0x18c/0x190
Code: 97dafee4 340001b4 f9401328 2a1f03e0 (79402d14)
—[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]—

Above issue may happens as follows:
ntfs_new_inode
mi_init
mi->mrec = kmalloc(sbi->record_size, GFP_NOFS); –>failed to allocate memory
if (!mi->mrec)
return -ENOMEM;
iput
iput_final
evict
ntfs_evict_inode
ni_write_inode
is_rec_inuse(ni->mi.mrec)-> As ‘ni->mi.mrec’ is NULL trigger NULL-ptr-deref

To solve above issue if new inode failed make inode bad before call ‘iput()’ in
‘ntfs_new_inode()’.

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No related CWE found.

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How to fix CVE-2023-54196

CVE-2023-54196 is a unknown severity vulnerability affecting the affected product.

Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/ntfs3: Fix NULL pointer dereference in ‘ni_write_inode’ Syzbot found the following issue: Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000016 Mem abort info: ESR = 0x0000000096000006 EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits SET = 0, FnV = 0 […]

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

Dec 30, 2025
Vulnerability Published

CVE details first published to NVD database

Dec 30, 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.