# CVE-2023-53265: ubi: ensure that VID header offset + VID header size <= alloc, size

> A slab out-of-bounds read in the Linux kernel UBI driver allows attackers to cause a denial of service or read sensitive memory.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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:** 16 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53265, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53265, GHSA-6jj6-82pm-r5v3, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53265

## What is CVE-2023-53265?

CVE-2023-53265 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Sep 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:

ubi: ensure that VID header offset + VID header size <= alloc, size

Ensure that the VID header offset + VID header size does not exceed
the allocated area to avoid slab OOB.

BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in crc32_body lib/crc32.c:111 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in crc32_le_generic lib/crc32.c:179 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in crc32_le_base+0x58c/0x626 lib/crc32.c:197
Read of size 4 at addr ffff88802bb36f00 by task syz-executor136/1555

CPU: 2 PID: 1555 Comm: syz-executor136 Tainted: G        W
6.0.0-1868 #1
Hardware name: Red Hat KVM, BIOS 1.13.0-2.module+el8.3.0+7860+a7792d29
04/01/2014
Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline]
  dump_stack_lvl+0x85/0xad lib/dump_stack.c:106
  print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:317 [inline]
  print_report.cold.13+0xb6/0x6bb mm/kasan/report.c:433
  kasan_report+0xa7/0x11b mm/kasan/report.c:495
  crc32_body lib/crc32.c:111 [inline]
  crc32_le_generic lib/crc32.c:179 [inline]
  crc32_le_base+0x58c/0x626 lib/crc32.c:197
  ubi_io_write_vid_hdr+0x1b7/0x472 drivers/mtd/ubi/io.c:1067
  create_vtbl+0x4d5/0x9c4 drivers/mtd/ubi/vtbl.c:317
  create_empty_lvol drivers/mtd/ubi/vtbl.c:500 [inline]
  ubi_read_volume_table+0x67b/0x288a drivers/mtd/ubi/vtbl.c:812
  ubi_attach+0xf34/0x1603 drivers/mtd/ubi/attach.c:1601
  ubi_attach_mtd_dev+0x6f3/0x185e drivers/mtd/ubi/build.c:965
  ctrl_cdev_ioctl+0x2db/0x347 drivers/mtd/ubi/cdev.c:1043
  vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
  __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline]
  __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:856 [inline]
  __x64_sys_ioctl+0x193/0x213 fs/ioctl.c:856
  do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
  do_syscall_64+0x3e/0x86 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0x0
RIP: 0033:0x7f96d5cf753d
Code:
RSP: 002b:00007fffd72206f8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f96d5cf753d
RDX: 0000000020000080 RSI: 0000000040186f40 RDI: 0000000000000003
RBP: 0000000000400cd0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000400be0
R13: 00007fffd72207e0 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000
  </TASK>

Allocated by task 1555:
  kasan_save_stack+0x20/0x3d mm/kasan/common.c:38
  kasan_set_track mm/kasan/common.c:45 [inline]
  set_alloc_info mm/kasan/common.c:437 [inline]
  ____kasan_kmalloc mm/kasan/common.c:516 [inline]
  __kasan_kmalloc+0x88/0xa3 mm/kasan/common.c:525
  kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:234 [inline]
  __kmalloc+0x138/0x257 mm/slub.c:4429
  kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:605 [inline]
  ubi_alloc_vid_buf drivers/mtd/ubi/ubi.h:1093 [inline]
  create_vtbl+0xcc/0x9c4 drivers/mtd/ubi/vtbl.c:295
  create_empty_lvol drivers/mtd/ubi/vtbl.c:500 [inline]
  ubi_read_volume_table+0x67b/0x288a drivers/mtd/ubi/vtbl.c:812
  ubi_attach+0xf34/0x1603 drivers/mtd/ubi/attach.c:1601
  ubi_attach_mtd_dev+0x6f3/0x185e drivers/mtd/ubi/build.c:965
  ctrl_cdev_ioctl+0x2db/0x347 drivers/mtd/ubi/cdev.c:1043
  vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
  __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:870 [inline]
  __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:856 [inline]
  __x64_sys_ioctl+0x193/0x213 fs/ioctl.c:856
  do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline]
  do_syscall_64+0x3e/0x86 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0x0

The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff88802bb36e00
  which belongs to the cache kmalloc-256 of size 256
The buggy address is located 0 bytes to the right of
  256-byte region [ffff88802bb36e00, ffff88802bb36f00)

The buggy address belongs to the physical page:
page:00000000ea4d1263 refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000
index:0x0 pfn:0x2bb36
head:00000000ea4d1263 order:1 compound_mapcount:0 compound_pincount:0
flags: 0xfffffc0010200(slab|head|node=0|zone=1|lastcpupid=0x1fffff)
raw: 000fffffc0010200 ffffea000066c300 dead000000000003 ffff888100042b40
raw: 0000000000000000 00000000001
---truncated---

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53265?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53265?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53265 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53265 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-2023-53265 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53265 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Sep 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-2023-53265 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-2023-53265/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53265/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53265
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53265
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53265

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53265/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.