Linux Kernel up to 6.2.7 ext4 ext4_xattr_delete_inode infinite loop

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as critical has been discovered in Linux Kernel up to 6.2.7. Affected by this vulnerability is the function ext4_xattr_delete_inode of the component ext4. Executing a manipulation can lead to infinite loop. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2023-53089. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.2.7. This vulnerability affects the function ext4_xattr_delete_inode of the component ext4. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a infinite loop vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-835. The product contains an iteration or loop with an exit condition that cannot be reached, i.e., an infinite loop. As an impact it is known to affect availability. CVE summarizes:

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.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2023-53089 since 05/02/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 240448 (Amazon Linux 2 : kernel (ALAS-2025-2892)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 4.14.311, 4.19.279, 5.4.238, 5.10.176, 5.15.104, 6.1.21 or 6.2.8 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch efddc7e106fdf8d1f62d45e79de78f63b7c04fba/64b72f5e7574020dea62ab733d88a54d903c42a1/2c96c52aeaa6fd9163cfacdd98778b4a0398ef18/a98160d8f3e6242ca9b7f443f26e7ef3a61ba684/1aec41c98cce61d19ce89650895e51b9f3cdef13/94fd091576b12540924f6316ebc0678e84cb2800/73f7987fe1b82596f1a380e85cd0097ebaae7e01/0f7bfd6f8164be32dbbdf36aa1e5d00485c53cd7 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (240448). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 4.14.310
• 4.19.278
• 5.4.237
• 5.10.175
• 5.15.103
• 6.1.0
• 6.1.1
• 6.1.2
• 6.1.3
• 6.1.4
• 6.1.5
• 6.1.6
• 6.1.7
• 6.1.8
• 6.1.9
• 6.1.10
• 6.1.11
• 6.1.12
• 6.1.13
• 6.1.14
• 6.1.15
• 6.1.16
• 6.1.17
• 6.1.18
• 6.1.19
• 6.1.20
• 6.2.0
• 6.2.1
• 6.2.2
• 6.2.3
• 6.2.4
• 6.2.5
• 6.2.6
• 6.2.7

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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Entryinfo

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