# CVE-2023-53440: nilfs2: fix sysfs interface lifetime

> A local attacker can trigger a null pointer dereference or use-after-free in the nilfs2 filesystem by accessing sysfs attributes, causing a system crash.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 18 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53440, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53440, GHSA-v99g-2hwc-34c3, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53440

## What is CVE-2023-53440?

CVE-2023-53440 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 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:

nilfs2: fix sysfs interface lifetime

The current nilfs2 sysfs support has issues with the timing of creation
and deletion of sysfs entries, potentially leading to null pointer
dereferences, use-after-free, and lockdep warnings.

Some of the sysfs attributes for nilfs2 per-filesystem instance refer to
metadata file "cpfile", "sufile", or "dat", but
nilfs_sysfs_create_device_group that creates those attributes is executed
before the inodes for these metadata files are loaded, and
nilfs_sysfs_delete_device_group which deletes these sysfs entries is
called after releasing their metadata file inodes.

Therefore, access to some of these sysfs attributes may occur outside of
the lifetime of these metadata files, resulting in inode NULL pointer
dereferences or use-after-free.

In addition, the call to nilfs_sysfs_create_device_group() is made during
the locking period of the semaphore "ns_sem" of nilfs object, so the
shrinker call caused by the memory allocation for the sysfs entries, may
derive lock dependencies "ns_sem" -> (shrinker) -> "locks acquired in
nilfs_evict_inode()".

Since nilfs2 may acquire "ns_sem" deep in the call stack holding other
locks via its error handler __nilfs_error(), this causes lockdep to report
circular locking.  This is a false positive and no circular locking
actually occurs as no inodes exist yet when
nilfs_sysfs_create_device_group() is called.  Fortunately, the lockdep
warnings can be resolved by simply moving the call to
nilfs_sysfs_create_device_group() out of "ns_sem".

This fixes these sysfs issues by revising where the device's sysfs
interface is created/deleted and keeping its lifetime within the lifetime
of the metadata files above.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53440?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-53440?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53440 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53440 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-2023-53440 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53440 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 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-2023-53440 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-2023-53440/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53440/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53440
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53440
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53440

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53440/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.