CVE-2023-53294 fs/ntfs3: Fix null-ptr-deref on inode->i_op in ntfs_lookup()
A local attacker can cause a kernel crash via null pointer dereference in the NTFS3 filesystem driver when processing malformed MFT records.
- 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
What is CVE-2023-53294?
CVE-2023-53294 is a medium-severity 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:
fs/ntfs3: Fix null-ptr-deref on inode->i_op in ntfs_lookup()
Syzbot reported a null-ptr-deref bug:
ntfs3: loop0: Different NTFS' sector size (1024) and media sector size (512) ntfs3: loop0: Mark volume as dirty due to NTFS errors general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000001: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000008-0x000000000000000f] RIP: 0010:d_flags_for_inode fs/dcache.c:1980 [inline] RIP: 0010:__d_add+0x5ce/0x800 fs/dcache.c:2796 Call Trace: <TASK> d_splice_alias+0x122/0x3b0 fs/dcache.c:3191 lookup_open fs/namei.c:3391 [inline] open_last_lookups fs/namei.c:3481 [inline] path_openat+0x10e6/0x2df0 fs/namei.c:3688 do_filp_open+0x264/0x4f0 fs/namei.c:3718 do_sys_openat2+0x124/0x4e0 fs/open.c:1310 do_sys_open fs/open.c:1326 [inline] __do_sys_open fs/open.c:1334 [inline] __se_sys_open fs/open.c:1330 [inline] __x64_sys_open+0x221/0x270 fs/open.c:1330 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x3d/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
If the MFT record of ntfs inode is not a base record, inode->i_op can be NULL. And a null-ptr-deref may happen:
ntfs_lookup() dir_search_u() # inode->i_op is set to NULL d_splice_alias() __d_add() d_flags_for_inode() # inode->i_op->get_link null-ptr-deref
Fix this by adding a Check on inode->i_op before calling the d_splice_alias() function.
Weakness: CWE-476
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53294?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53294?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2023-53294 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53294 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-53294, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53294, GHSA-9436-jjr2-vc98, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53294.