# CVE-2023-52848: f2fs: fix to drop meta_inode's page cache in f2fs_put_super()

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel panic during filesystem unmount by causing IO errors, leading to a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 21 May 2024
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52848, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52848, GHSA-c228-4gh7-9r76, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52848

## What is CVE-2023-52848?

CVE-2023-52848 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

f2fs: fix to drop meta_inode's page cache in f2fs_put_super()

syzbot reports a kernel bug as below:

F2FS-fs (loop1): detect filesystem reference count leak during umount, type: 10, count: 1
kernel BUG at fs/f2fs/super.c:1639!
CPU: 0 PID: 15451 Comm: syz-executor.1 Not tainted 6.5.0-syzkaller-09338-ge0152e7481c6 #0
RIP: 0010:f2fs_put_super+0xce1/0xed0 fs/f2fs/super.c:1639
Call Trace:
 generic_shutdown_super+0x161/0x3c0 fs/super.c:693
 kill_block_super+0x3b/0x70 fs/super.c:1646
 kill_f2fs_super+0x2b7/0x3d0 fs/f2fs/super.c:4879
 deactivate_locked_super+0x9a/0x170 fs/super.c:481
 deactivate_super+0xde/0x100 fs/super.c:514
 cleanup_mnt+0x222/0x3d0 fs/namespace.c:1254
 task_work_run+0x14d/0x240 kernel/task_work.c:179
 resume_user_mode_work include/linux/resume_user_mode.h:49 [inline]
 exit_to_user_mode_loop kernel/entry/common.c:171 [inline]
 exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x210/0x240 kernel/entry/common.c:204
 __syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work kernel/entry/common.c:285 [inline]
 syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x1d/0x60 kernel/entry/common.c:296
 do_syscall_64+0x44/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:86
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

In f2fs_put_super(), it tries to do sanity check on dirty and IO
reference count of f2fs, once there is any reference count leak,
it will trigger panic.

The root case is, during f2fs_put_super(), if there is any IO error
in f2fs_wait_on_all_pages(), we missed to truncate meta_inode's page
cache later, result in panic, fix this case.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52848?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52848?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52848 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52848 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-52848 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52848 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52848 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52848/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52848/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52848
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52848
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52848

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52848/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.