Linux Kernel up to 5.15.110/6.1.27/6.2.14/6.3.1 ntfs3 hdr_delete_de out-of-bounds

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.110/6.1.27/6.2.14/6.3.1. It has been rated as critical. This vulnerability affects the function hdr_delete_de of the component ntfs3. The manipulation leads to out-of-bounds. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2023-53988. No exploit exists. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.15.110/6.1.27/6.2.14/6.3.1. It has been rated as problematic. This issue affects the function hdr_delete_de of the component ntfs3. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a out-of-bounds vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-125. The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. Impacted is confidentiality. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/ntfs3: Fix slab-out-of-bounds read in hdr_delete_de() Here is a BUG report from syzbot: BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in hdr_delete_de+0xe0/0x150 fs/ntfs3/index.c:806 Read of size 16842960 at addr ffff888079cc0600 by task syz-executor934/3631 Call Trace: memmove+0x25/0x60 mm/kasan/shadow.c:54 hdr_delete_de+0xe0/0x150 fs/ntfs3/index.c:806 indx_delete_entry+0x74f/0x3670 fs/ntfs3/index.c:2193 ni_remove_name+0x27a/0x980 fs/ntfs3/frecord.c:2910 ntfs_unlink_inode+0x3d4/0x720 fs/ntfs3/inode.c:1712 ntfs_rename+0x41a/0xcb0 fs/ntfs3/namei.c:276 Before using the meta-data in struct INDEX_HDR, we need to check index header valid or not. Otherwise, the corruptedi (or malicious) fs image can cause out-of-bounds access which could make kernel panic.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-53988 since 12/24/2025. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 279995 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53988), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.15.111, 6.1.28, 6.2.15 or 6.3.2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch c58ea97aa94f033ee64a8cb6587d84a9849b6216/9163a5b4ed290da4a7d23fa92533e0e81fd0166e/114204d25e1dffdd3a0c1cfbba219afd344f4b4f/4a034ece7e2877673d9085d6e7ed45e6ee40b761/ab84eee4c7ab929996602eda7832854c35a6dda2 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 (279995) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2920). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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

• 5.15.110
• 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
• 6.1.21
• 6.1.22
• 6.1.23
• 6.1.24
• 6.1.25
• 6.1.26
• 6.1.27
• 6.2.0
• 6.2.1
• 6.2.2
• 6.2.3
• 6.2.4
• 6.2.5
• 6.2.6
• 6.2.7
• 6.2.8
• 6.2.9
• 6.2.10
• 6.2.11
• 6.2.12
• 6.2.13
• 6.2.14
• 6.3.0
• 6.3.1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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