# CVE-2023-53800: ubi: Fix use-after-free when volume resizing failed

> A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel UBI driver allows local attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges via volume resizing 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:** 9 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-53800, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53800, GHSA-7jjf-hg6r-x4hg, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-53800

## What is CVE-2023-53800?

CVE-2023-53800 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 9 Dec 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: Fix use-after-free when volume resizing failed

There is an use-after-free problem reported by KASAN:
  ==================================================================
  BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ubi_eba_copy_table+0x11f/0x1c0 [ubi]
  Read of size 8 at addr ffff888101eec008 by task ubirsvol/4735

  CPU: 2 PID: 4735 Comm: ubirsvol
  Not tainted 6.1.0-rc1-00003-g84fa3304a7fc-dirty #14
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996),
  BIOS 1.14.0-1.fc33 04/01/2014
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   dump_stack_lvl+0x34/0x44
   print_report+0x171/0x472
   kasan_report+0xad/0x130
   ubi_eba_copy_table+0x11f/0x1c0 [ubi]
   ubi_resize_volume+0x4f9/0xbc0 [ubi]
   ubi_cdev_ioctl+0x701/0x1850 [ubi]
   __x64_sys_ioctl+0x11d/0x170
   do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0
   </TASK>

When ubi_change_vtbl_record() returns an error in ubi_resize_volume(),
"new_eba_tbl" will be freed on error handing path, but it is holded
by "vol->eba_tbl" in ubi_eba_replace_table(). It means that the liftcycle
of "vol->eba_tbl" and "vol" are different, so when resizing volume in
next time, it causing an use-after-free fault.

Fix it by not freeing "new_eba_tbl" after it replaced in
ubi_eba_replace_table(), while will be freed in next volume resizing.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53800?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-53800?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-53800 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53800 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-53800 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-53800 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 9 Dec 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-2023-53800 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-2023-53800/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53800/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53800
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-53800
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-53800

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-53800/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.