# CVE-2023-53692: ext4: fix use-after-free read in ext4_find_extent for bigalloc + inline

> A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel ext4 filesystem allows attackers to cause a denial of service or potentially execute code via crafted filesystem operations.

- **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:** 22 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53692, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53692, GHSA-f427-wg66-92gr, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53692

## What is CVE-2023-53692?

CVE-2023-53692 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 22 Oct 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 use-after-free read in ext4_find_extent for bigalloc + inline

Syzbot found the following issue:
loop0: detected capacity change from 0 to 2048
EXT4-fs (loop0): mounted filesystem 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 without journal. Quota mode: none.
==================================================================
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ext4_ext_binsearch_idx fs/ext4/extents.c:768 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ext4_find_extent+0x76e/0xd90 fs/ext4/extents.c:931
Read of size 4 at addr ffff888073644750 by task syz-executor420/5067

CPU: 0 PID: 5067 Comm: syz-executor420 Not tainted 6.2.0-rc1-syzkaller #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/26/2022
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline]
 dump_stack_lvl+0x1b1/0x290 lib/dump_stack.c:106
 print_address_description+0x74/0x340 mm/kasan/report.c:306
 print_report+0x107/0x1f0 mm/kasan/report.c:417
 kasan_report+0xcd/0x100 mm/kasan/report.c:517
 ext4_ext_binsearch_idx fs/ext4/extents.c:768 [inline]
 ext4_find_extent+0x76e/0xd90 fs/ext4/extents.c:931
 ext4_clu_mapped+0x117/0x970 fs/ext4/extents.c:5809
 ext4_insert_delayed_block fs/ext4/inode.c:1696 [inline]
 ext4_da_map_blocks fs/ext4/inode.c:1806 [inline]
 ext4_da_get_block_prep+0x9e8/0x13c0 fs/ext4/inode.c:1870
 ext4_block_write_begin+0x6a8/0x2290 fs/ext4/inode.c:1098
 ext4_da_write_begin+0x539/0x760 fs/ext4/inode.c:3082
 generic_perform_write+0x2e4/0x5e0 mm/filemap.c:3772
 ext4_buffered_write_iter+0x122/0x3a0 fs/ext4/file.c:285
 ext4_file_write_iter+0x1d0/0x18f0
 call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:2186 [inline]
 new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:491 [inline]
 vfs_write+0x7dc/0xc50 fs/read_write.c:584
 ksys_write+0x177/0x2a0 fs/read_write.c:637
 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
RIP: 0033:0x7f4b7a9737b9
RSP: 002b:00007ffc5cac3668 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f4b7a9737b9
RDX: 00000000175d9003 RSI: 0000000020000200 RDI: 0000000000000004
RBP: 00007f4b7a933050 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 000000000000079f R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007f4b7a9330e0
R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000
 </TASK>

Above issue is happens when enable bigalloc and inline data feature. As
commit 131294c35ed6 fixed delayed allocation bug in ext4_clu_mapped for
bigalloc + inline. But it only resolved issue when has inline data, if
inline data has been converted to extent(ext4_da_convert_inline_data_to_extent)
before writepages, there is no EXT4_STATE_MAY_INLINE_DATA flag. However
i_data is still store inline data in this scene. Then will trigger UAF
when find extent.
To resolve above issue, there is need to add judge "ext4_has_inline_data(inode)"
in ext4_clu_mapped().

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53692?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-53692?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53692 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53692 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-53692 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53692 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 22 Oct 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-2023-53692 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2023-53692/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53692/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53692
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53692
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53692

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53692/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.