Skip to main content

Linux Kernel CVE-2023-54125

HIGH
2025-12-24 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Information Disclosure Linux Red Hat Suse
7.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Share

Severity by source

Vendor (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67) PRIMARY
7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI
7.8 HIGH

Local vector confirmed by attack path requiring mounted NTFS volume; low privilege sufficient; use-after-free write justifies high integrity and availability impact with potential memory disclosure.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE
6.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H
Red Hat
MEDIUM
qualitative

Primary rating from Vendor (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67).

CVSS VectorVendor: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

4
Analysis Updated
Aug 04, 2026 - 10:35 vuln.today
v1 (cvss_changed)
Re-analysis Queued
Aug 04, 2026 - 10:23 vuln.today
cvss_changed
CVSS changed
Aug 04, 2026 - 10:23 NVD
7.8 (HIGH)
CVE Published
Dec 24, 2025 - 13:16 cve.org
N/A

DescriptionCVE.org

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

fs/ntfs3: Return error for inconsistent extended attributes

ntfs_read_ea is called when we want to read extended attributes. There are some sanity checks for the validity of the EAs. However, it fails to return a proper error code for the inconsistent attributes, which might lead to unpredicted memory accesses after return.

[ 138.916927] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ntfs_set_ea+0x453/0xbf0 [ 138.923876] Write of size 4 at addr ffff88800205cfac by task poc/199 [ 138.931132] [ 138.933016] CPU: 0 PID: 199 Comm: poc Not tainted 6.2.0-rc1+ #4 [ 138.938070] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 138.947327] Call Trace: [ 138.949557] <TASK> [ 138.951539] dump_stack_lvl+0x4d/0x67 [ 138.956834] print_report+0x16f/0x4a6 [ 138.960798] ? ntfs_set_ea+0x453/0xbf0 [ 138.964437] ? kasan_complete_mode_report_info+0x7d/0x200 [ 138.969793] ? ntfs_set_ea+0x453/0xbf0 [ 138.973523] kasan_report+0xb8/0x140 [ 138.976740] ? ntfs_set_ea+0x453/0xbf0 [ 138.980578] __asan_store4+0x76/0xa0 [ 138.984669] ntfs_set_ea+0x453/0xbf0 [ 138.988115] ? __pfx_ntfs_set_ea+0x10/0x10 [ 138.993390] ? kernel_text_address+0xd3/0xe0 [ 138.998270] ? __kernel_text_address+0x16/0x50 [ 139.002121] ? unwind_get_return_address+0x3e/0x60 [ 139.005659] ? __pfx_stack_trace_consume_entry+0x10/0x10 [ 139.010177] ? arch_stack_walk+0xa2/0x100 [ 139.013657] ? filter_irq_stacks+0x27/0x80 [ 139.017018] ntfs_setxattr+0x405/0x440 [ 139.022151] ? __pfx_ntfs_setxattr+0x10/0x10 [ 139.026569] ? kvmalloc_node+0x2d/0x120 [ 139.030329] ? kasan_save_stack+0x41/0x60 [ 139.033883] ? kasan_save_stack+0x2a/0x60 [ 139.037338] ? kasan_set_track+0x29/0x40 [ 139.040163] ? kasan_save_alloc_info+0x1f/0x30 [ 139.043588] ? __kasan_kmalloc+0x8b/0xa0 [ 139.047255] ? __kmalloc_node+0x68/0x150 [ 139.051264] ? kvmalloc_node+0x2d/0x120 [ 139.055301] ? vmemdup_user+0x2b/0xa0 [ 139.058584] __vfs_setxattr+0x121/0x170 [ 139.062617] ? __pfx___vfs_setxattr+0x10/0x10 [ 139.066282] __vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x97/0x300 [ 139.070061] __vfs_setxattr_locked+0x145/0x170 [ 139.073580] vfs_setxattr+0x137/0x2a0 [ 139.076641] ? __pfx_vfs_setxattr+0x10/0x10 [ 139.080223] ? __kasan_check_write+0x18/0x20 [ 139.084234] do_setxattr+0xce/0x150 [ 139.087768] setxattr+0x126/0x140 [ 139.091250] ? __pfx_setxattr+0x10/0x10 [ 139.094948] ? __virt_addr_valid+0xcb/0x140 [ 139.097838] ? __call_rcu_common.constprop.0+0x1c7/0x330 [ 139.102688] ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x1b/0x30 [ 139.105985] ? kasan_quarantine_put+0x5b/0x190 [ 139.109980] ? putname+0x84/0xa0 [ 139.113886] ? __kasan_slab_free+0x11e/0x1b0 [ 139.117961] ? putname+0x84/0xa0 [ 139.121316] ? preempt_count_sub+0x1c/0xd0 [ 139.124427] ? __mnt_want_write+0xae/0x100 [ 139.127836] ? mnt_want_write+0x8f/0x150 [ 139.130954] path_setxattr+0x164/0x180 [ 139.133998] ? __pfx_path_setxattr+0x10/0x10 [ 139.137853] ? __pfx_ksys_pwrite64+0x10/0x10 [ 139.141299] ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x1b/0x30 [ 139.145714] ? fpregs_assert_state_consistent+0x6b/0x80 [ 139.150796] __x64_sys_setxattr+0x71/0x90 [ 139.155407] do_syscall_64+0x3f/0x90 [ 139.159035] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc [ 139.163843] RIP: 0033:0x7f108cae4469 [ 139.166481] Code: 00 f3 c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 40 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 088 [ 139.183764] RSP: 002b:00007fff87588388 EFLAGS: 00000286 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000bc [ 139.190657] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f108cae4469 [ 139.196586] RDX: 00007fff875883b0 RSI: 00007fff875883d1 RDI: 00007fff875883b6 [ 139.201716] RBP: 00007fff8758c530 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 00007fff8758c618 [ 139.207940] R10: 0000000000000006 R11: 0000000000000286 R12: 00000000004004c0 [ 139.214007] R13: 00007fff8758c610 R14: 0000000000000000 R15 ---truncated---

AnalysisAI

Use-after-free in the Linux kernel NTFS3 filesystem driver allows a local attacker with low privileges to corrupt kernel heap memory via a crafted NTFS volume with malformed extended attributes. The ntfs_read_ea function fails to propagate error codes on encountering inconsistent EA structures, causing ntfs_set_ea to perform a 4-byte write to already-freed memory - confirmed by an in-description KASAN trace captured at 6.2.0-rc1+. No active exploitation is confirmed (not in CISA KEV), and an EPSS of 0.16% (6th percentile) signals very low observed exploitation activity, though a researcher-developed proof-of-concept is implied by the kernel trace.

Technical ContextAI

The NTFS3 driver (fs/ntfs3/) is a modern in-tree NTFS implementation merged into the Linux mainline kernel in version 5.15, distinct from the legacy ntfs module and the userspace ntfs-3g FUSE driver. The vulnerability lies in ntfs_read_ea, which validates extended attribute (EA) structures from on-disk NTFS metadata but silently swallows error conditions instead of returning them to the caller. The calling function ntfs_set_ea - reached via the ntfs_setxattr VFS hook during a setxattr(2) syscall - proceeds with freed or invalid memory references. KASAN detected a 4-byte write to ffff88800205cfac, a freed heap object, constituting a use-after-free (CWE-416) rooted in improper error propagation (CWE-252). The complete kernel call chain from userspace is: setxattr syscall → path_setxattr → vfs_setxattr → __vfs_setxattr_noperm → __vfs_setxattr → ntfs_setxattr → ntfs_set_ea, where the flaw is triggered. The CWE field in the input is listed as N/A, but the KASAN output unambiguously identifies CWE-416.

Affected ProductsAI

The Linux kernel's in-tree NTFS3 filesystem driver is affected. The vulnerability was reproduced on Linux 6.2.0-rc1+ per the KASAN trace in the CVE description. Because the NTFS3 driver was first merged in Linux 5.15, versions 5.15 and later are potentially affected. Exact affected stable branch ranges are inferred from the four stable tree patch commits rather than an explicit upstream advisory. The fix has been backported across multiple stable branches via commits 1474098b590a, 486666c2c271, 6557c4504c5a, and c9db0ff04649 at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/. Distribution-specific affected package versions (Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL, etc.) must be verified against individual vendor security advisories.

RemediationAI

Apply the upstream fix by updating to a patched kernel version that incorporates one of the four stable commits: 1474098b590a426d90f27bb992f17c326e0b60c1, 486666c2c2714788705d02d98d0332c8a2328575, 6557c4504c5a1bbbbac25d14d7dcf2a4912d1508, or c9db0ff04649aa0b45f497183c957fe260f229f6, available at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/. Check your Linux distribution's security channel for patched kernel packages, as exact released versions are not independently confirmed in the provided references. As a compensating control where NTFS support is not required, unload and blacklist the ntfs3 module: modprobe -r ntfs3 and add blacklist ntfs3 to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf - this eliminates the vulnerable code path entirely with no impact on non-NTFS workloads. Where NTFS mounts are necessary, restrict mount privileges to root-only by preventing unprivileged user namespace creation (sysctl -w kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone=0 on supported distributions), which limits the attack surface to already-privileged users.

Same technique Information Disclosure

View all
CVE-2019-2725 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2021-34523 CRITICAL POC
9.0
CVE-2013-2251 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2017-5638 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2025-24813 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2015-1701 HIGH POC
7.8
CVE-2017-0147 HIGH POC
7.5
CVE-2014-6324 HIGH POC
8.8

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate
Product Status
Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container:2.1.3-7.95 Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/base-os-container:2.2.1-5.80 Image SL-Micro Image SL-Micro-Azure Image SL-Micro-BYOS-Azure Image SL-Micro-BYOS-EC2 Image SL-Micro-BYOS-GCE Image SL-Micro-EC2 Image SLE-Micro Image SLE-Micro-Azure Image SLE-Micro-BYOS Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-Azure Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-EC2 Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-GCE Image SLE-Micro-EC2 Image SLE-Micro-GCE Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-Azure Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-EC2 Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-GCE Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-Azure-llc Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-Azure-ltd Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-Azure Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-EC2 Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-GCE Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-EC2-llc Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-EC2-ltd Affected
Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container:2.1.3-6.115 Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/kvm-os-container:2.2.1-5.83 Affected
Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/rt-os-container:2.1.3-7.146 Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/rt-os-container:2.2.1-5.91 Affected
Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Azure-3P Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Azure-LI-BYOS Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Azure-LI-BYOS-Production Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Azure-VLI-BYOS Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Azure-VLI-BYOS-Production Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-BYOS Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-BYOS-Azure Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-BYOS-EC2 Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-BYOS-GCE Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Hardened Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Hardened-Azure Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Hardened-BYOS Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Hardened-BYOS-Azure Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Hardened-BYOS-EC2 Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Hardened-BYOS-GCE Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Hardened-EC2 Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Hardened-GCE Affected
Image SLES15-SP6 Image SLES15-SP6-BYOS Image SLES15-SP6-BYOS-Azure Image SLES15-SP6-BYOS-EC2 Image SLES15-SP6-BYOS-GCE Image SLES15-SP6-CHOST-BYOS Image SLES15-SP6-CHOST-BYOS-Aliyun Image SLES15-SP6-CHOST-BYOS-Azure Image SLES15-SP6-CHOST-BYOS-EC2 Image SLES15-SP6-CHOST-BYOS-GCE Image SLES15-SP6-CHOST-BYOS-GDC Image SLES15-SP6-CHOST-BYOS-SAP-CCloud Image SLES15-SP6-EC2 Image SLES15-SP6-EC2-ECS-HVM Image SLES15-SP6-GCE Image SLES15-SP6-HPC-BYOS Image SLES15-SP6-HPC-BYOS-Azure Image SLES15-SP6-HPC-BYOS-EC2 Image SLES15-SP6-HPC-BYOS-GCE Image SLES15-SP6-HPC-EC2 Image SLES15-SP6-HPC-GCE Image SLES15-SP6-Hardened-BYOS Image SLES15-SP6-Hardened-BYOS-Azure Image SLES15-SP6-Hardened-BYOS-EC2 Image SLES15-SP6-Hardened-BYOS-GCE Image SLES15-SP6-SAP Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-Azure Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-EC2 Image SLES15-SP6-SAP-GCE Image SLES15-SP6-SAPCAL Image SLES15-SP6-SAPCAL-Azure Image SLES15-SP6-SAPCAL-EC2 Image SLES15-SP6-SAPCAL-GCE Affected

Share

CVE-2023-54125 vulnerability details – vuln.today
Back

This site uses cookies essential for authentication and security. No tracking or analytics cookies are used. Privacy Policy