# CVE-2023-53143: ext4: fix another off-by-one fsmap error on 1k block filesystems > A local attacker can crash the Linux kernel by issuing a specific ioctl call on a 1k-block ext4 filesystem, causing 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:** 2 May 2025 - **Updated:** 11 May 2026 - **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53143, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53143, GHSA-5vjg-59f8-hcq8, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53143 ## What is CVE-2023-53143? CVE-2023-53143 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 May 2025. 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: ext4: fix another off-by-one fsmap error on 1k block filesystems Apparently syzbot figured out that issuing this FSMAP call: struct fsmap_head cmd = { .fmh_count = ...; .fmh_keys = { { .fmr_device = /* ext4 dev */, .fmr_physical = 0, }, { .fmr_device = /* ext4 dev */, .fmr_physical = 0, }, }, ... }; ret = ioctl(fd, FS_IOC_GETFSMAP, &cmd); Produces this crash if the underlying filesystem is a 1k-block ext4 filesystem: kernel BUG at fs/ext4/ext4.h:3331! invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP CPU: 3 PID: 3227965 Comm: xfs_io Tainted: G W O 6.2.0-rc8-achx Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:ext4_mb_load_buddy_gfp+0x47c/0x570 [ext4] RSP: 0018:ffffc90007c03998 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: ffff888004978000 RBX: ffffc90007c03a20 RCX: ffff888041618000 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00000000000005a4 RDI: ffffffffa0c99b11 RBP: ffff888012330000 R08: ffffffffa0c2b7d0 R09: 0000000000000400 R10: ffffc90007c03950 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000001 R13: 00000000ffffffff R14: 0000000000000c40 R15: ffff88802678c398 FS: 00007fdf2020c880(0000) GS:ffff88807e100000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007ffd318a5fe8 CR3: 000000007f80f001 CR4: 00000000001706e0 Call Trace: ext4_mballoc_query_range+0x4b/0x210 [ext4 dfa189daddffe8fecd3cdfd00564e0f265a8ab80] ext4_getfsmap_datadev+0x713/0x890 [ext4 dfa189daddffe8fecd3cdfd00564e0f265a8ab80] ext4_getfsmap+0x2b7/0x330 [ext4 dfa189daddffe8fecd3cdfd00564e0f265a8ab80] ext4_ioc_getfsmap+0x153/0x2b0 [ext4 dfa189daddffe8fecd3cdfd00564e0f265a8ab80] __ext4_ioctl+0x2a7/0x17e0 [ext4 dfa189daddffe8fecd3cdfd00564e0f265a8ab80] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x82/0xa0 do_syscall_64+0x2b/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 RIP: 0033:0x7fdf20558aff RSP: 002b:00007ffd318a9e30 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00000000000200c0 RCX: 00007fdf20558aff RDX: 00007fdf1feb2010 RSI: 00000000c0c0583b RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00005625c0634be0 R08: 00005625c0634c40 R09: 0000000000000001 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007fdf1feb2010 R13: 00005625be70d994 R14: 0000000000000800 R15: 0000000000000000 For GETFSMAP calls, the caller selects a physical block device by writing its block number into fsmap_head.fmh_keys[01].fmr_device. To query mappings for a subrange of the device, the starting byte of the range is written to fsmap_head.fmh_keys[0].fmr_physical and the last byte of the range goes in fsmap_head.fmh_keys[1].fmr_physical. IOWs, to query what mappings overlap with bytes 3-14 of /dev/sda, you'd set the inputs as follows: fmh_keys[0] = { .fmr_device = major(8, 0), .fmr_physical = 3}, fmh_keys[1] = { .fmr_device = major(8, 0), .fmr_physical = 14}, Which would return you whatever is mapped in the 12 bytes starting at physical offset 3. The crash is due to insufficient range validation of keys[1] in ext4_getfsmap_datadev. On 1k-block filesystems, block 0 is not part of the filesystem, which means that s_first_data_block is nonzero. ext4_get_group_no_and_offset subtracts this quantity from the blocknr argument before cracking it into a group number and a block number within a group. IOWs, block group 0 spans blocks 1-8192 (1-based) instead of 0-8191 (0-based) like what happens with larger blocksizes. The net result of this encoding is that blocknr < s_first_data_block is not a valid input to this function. The end_fsb variable is set from the keys that are copied from userspace, which means that in the above example, its value is zero. That leads to an underflow here: blocknr = blocknr - le32_to_cpu(es->s_first_data_block); The division then operates on -1: offset = do_div(blocknr, EXT4_BLOCKS_PER_GROUP(sb)) >> EXT4_SB(sb)->s_cluster_bits; Leaving an impossibly large group number (2^32-1) in blocknr. ext4_getfsmap_check_keys checked that keys[0 ---truncated--- Weakness: CWE-193 (Off-by-one Error) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53143? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2023-53143? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2023-53143 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53143 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-2023-53143 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2023-53143 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 May 2025. 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-2023-53143 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-2023-53143/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53143/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53143 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53143 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53143 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53143/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.