# CVE-2023-53323: ext2/dax: Fix ext2_setsize when len is page aligned

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel BUG_ON crash in the ext2 filesystem when using DAX on a page-aligned truncate operation, 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:** 16 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-71885, BELL-CVE-2023-53323, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53323, GHSA-2f9c-chxh-5h7v, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53323, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53323

## What is CVE-2023-53323?

CVE-2023-53323 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

ext2/dax: Fix ext2_setsize when len is page aligned

PAGE_ALIGN(x) macro gives the next highest value which is multiple of
pagesize. But if x is already page aligned then it simply returns x.
So, if x passed is 0 in dax_zero_range() function, that means the
length gets passed as 0 to ->iomap_begin().

In ext2 it then calls ext2_get_blocks -> max_blocks as 0 and hits bug_on
here in ext2_get_blocks().
	BUG_ON(maxblocks == 0);

Instead we should be calling dax_truncate_page() here which takes
care of it. i.e. it only calls dax_zero_range if the offset is not
page/block aligned.

This can be easily triggered with following on fsdax mounted pmem
device.

dd if=/dev/zero of=file count=1 bs=512
truncate -s 0 file

[79.525838] EXT2-fs (pmem0): DAX enabled. Warning: EXPERIMENTAL, use at your own risk
[79.529376] ext2 filesystem being mounted at /mnt1/test supports timestamps until 2038 (0x7fffffff)
[93.793207] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[93.795102] kernel BUG at fs/ext2/inode.c:637!
[93.796904] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI
[93.798659] CPU: 0 PID: 1192 Comm: truncate Not tainted 6.3.0-rc2-xfstests-00056-g131086faa369 #139
[93.806459] RIP: 0010:ext2_get_blocks.constprop.0+0x524/0x610
<...>
[93.835298] Call Trace:
[93.836253]  <TASK>
[93.837103]  ? lock_acquire+0xf8/0x110
[93.838479]  ? d_lookup+0x69/0xd0
[93.839779]  ext2_iomap_begin+0xa7/0x1c0
[93.841154]  iomap_iter+0xc7/0x150
[93.842425]  dax_zero_range+0x6e/0xa0
[93.843813]  ext2_setsize+0x176/0x1b0
[93.845164]  ext2_setattr+0x151/0x200
[93.846467]  notify_change+0x341/0x4e0
[93.847805]  ? lock_acquire+0xf8/0x110
[93.849143]  ? do_truncate+0x74/0xe0
[93.850452]  ? do_truncate+0x84/0xe0
[93.851739]  do_truncate+0x84/0xe0
[93.852974]  do_sys_ftruncate+0x2b4/0x2f0
[93.854404]  do_syscall_64+0x3f/0x90
[93.855789]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc

Weakness: CWE-617 (Reachable Assertion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53323?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53323?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53323 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53323 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-2023-53323 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53323 is a medium-severity denial of service 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-2023-53323 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-2023-53323/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53323/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53323
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53323
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53323

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53323/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.