Linux Kernel up to 6.4.9 truncate_dnode use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as critical has been identified in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.9. This issue affects the function truncate_dnode. Such manipulation leads to use after free. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2023-53846. There is not any exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.4.9 and classified as critical. Affected by this issue is the function truncate_dnode. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: f2fs: fix to do sanity check on direct node in truncate_dnode() syzbot reports below bug: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in f2fs_truncate_data_blocks_range+0x122a/0x14c0 fs/f2fs/file.c:574 Read of size 4 at addr ffff88802a25c000 by task syz-executor148/5000 CPU: 1 PID: 5000 Comm: syz-executor148 Not tainted 6.4.0-rc7-syzkaller-00041-ge660abd551f1 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 05/27/2023 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0xd9/0x150 lib/dump_stack.c:106 print_address_description.constprop.0+0x2c/0x3c0 mm/kasan/report.c:351 print_report mm/kasan/report.c:462 [inline] kasan_report+0x11c/0x130 mm/kasan/report.c:572 f2fs_truncate_data_blocks_range+0x122a/0x14c0 fs/f2fs/file.c:574 truncate_dnode+0x229/0x2e0 fs/f2fs/node.c:944 f2fs_truncate_inode_blocks+0x64b/0xde0 fs/f2fs/node.c:1154 f2fs_do_truncate_blocks+0x4ac/0xf30 fs/f2fs/file.c:721 f2fs_truncate_blocks+0x7b/0x300 fs/f2fs/file.c:749 f2fs_truncate.part.0+0x4a5/0x630 fs/f2fs/file.c:799 f2fs_truncate include/linux/fs.h:825 [inline] f2fs_setattr+0x1738/0x2090 fs/f2fs/file.c:1006 notify_change+0xb2c/0x1180 fs/attr.c:483 do_truncate+0x143/0x200 fs/open.c:66 handle_truncate fs/namei.c:3295 [inline] do_open fs/namei.c:3640 [inline] path_openat+0x2083/0x2750 fs/namei.c:3791 do_filp_open+0x1ba/0x410 fs/namei.c:3818 do_sys_openat2+0x16d/0x4c0 fs/open.c:1356 do_sys_open fs/open.c:1372 [inline] __do_sys_creat fs/open.c:1448 [inline] __se_sys_creat fs/open.c:1442 [inline] __x64_sys_creat+0xcd/0x120 fs/open.c:1442 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x39/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd The root cause is, inodeA references inodeB via inodeB's ino, once inodeA is truncated, it calls truncate_dnode() to truncate data blocks in inodeB's node page, it traverse mapping data from node->i.i_addr[0] to node->i.i_addr[ADDRS_PER_BLOCK() - 1], result in out-of-boundary access. This patch fixes to add sanity check on dnode page in truncate_dnode(), so that, it can help to avoid triggering such issue, and once it encounters such issue, it will record newly introduced ERROR_INVALID_NODE_REFERENCE error into superblock, later fsck can detect such issue and try repairing. Also, it removes f2fs_truncate_data_blocks() for cleanup due to the function has only one caller, and uses f2fs_truncate_data_blocks_range() instead.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2023-53846 since 12/09/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 03/30/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 277839 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53846), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.4.10 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch af0f716ad3b039cab9d426da63a5ee6c88751185/a6ec83786ab9f13f25fb18166dee908845713a95 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 databases at Tenable (277839), EUVD (EUVD-2023-60150) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2765). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.4.0
• 6.4.1
• 6.4.2
• 6.4.3
• 6.4.4
• 6.4.5
• 6.4.6
• 6.4.7
• 6.4.8
• 6.4.9

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

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