CVE-2023-54077 fs/ntfs3: Fix memory leak if ntfs_read_mft failed
A memory leak in the Linux kernel NTFS3 driver allows attackers to cause denial of service by triggering inconsistent state handling during MFT reading.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-54077?
CVE-2023-54077 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
fs/ntfs3: Fix memory leak if ntfs_read_mft failed
Label ATTR_ROOT in ntfs_read_mft() sets is_root = true and ni->ni_flags |= NI_FLAG_DIR, then next attr will goto label ATTR_ALLOC and alloc ni->dir.alloc_run. However two states are not always consistent and can make memory leak.
1) attr_name in ATTR_ROOT does not fit the condition it will set is_root = true but NI_FLAG_DIR is not set. 2) next attr_name in ATTR_ALLOC fits the condition and alloc ni->dir.alloc_run 3) in cleanup function ni_clear(), when NI_FLAG_DIR is set, it frees ni->dir.alloc_run, otherwise it frees ni->file.run 4) because NI_FLAG_DIR is not set in this case, ni->dir.alloc_run is leaked as kmemleak reported:
unreferenced object 0xffff888003bc5480 (size 64): backtrace: [<000000003d42e6b0>] __kmalloc_node+0x4e/0x1c0 [<00000000d8e19b8a>] kvmalloc_node+0x39/0x1f0 [<00000000fc3eb5b8>] run_add_entry+0x18a/0xa40 [ntfs3] [<0000000011c9f978>] run_unpack+0x75d/0x8e0 [ntfs3] [<00000000e7cf1819>] run_unpack_ex+0xbc/0x500 [ntfs3] [<00000000bbf0a43d>] ntfs_iget5+0xb25/0x2dd0 [ntfs3] [<00000000a6e50693>] ntfs_fill_super+0x218d/0x3580 [ntfs3] [<00000000b9170608>] get_tree_bdev+0x3fb/0x710 [<000000004833798a>] vfs_get_tree+0x8e/0x280 [<000000006e20b8e6>] path_mount+0xf3c/0x1930 [<000000007bf15a5f>] do_mount+0xf3/0x110 ...
Fix this by always setting is_root and NI_FLAG_DIR together.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54077?
How do I fix CVE-2023-54077?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2023-54077 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54077 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-54077, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54077, GHSA-gg3g-2q75-6v65, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54077.