CVE-2023-54125 fs/ntfs3: Return error for inconsistent extended attributes
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's NTFS3 driver allows attackers to trigger memory corruption, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation.
- 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
What is CVE-2023-54125?
CVE-2023-54125 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 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:
fs/ntfs3: Return error for inconsistent extended attributes
ntfs_read_ea is called when we want to read extended attributes. There are some sanity checks for the validity of the EAs. However, it fails to return a proper error code for the inconsistent attributes, which might lead to unpredicted memory accesses after return.
[ 138.916927] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ntfs_set_ea+0x453/0xbf0 [ 138.923876] Write of size 4 at addr ffff88800205cfac by task poc/199 [ 138.931132] [ 138.933016] CPU: 0 PID: 199 Comm: poc Not tainted 6.2.0-rc1+ #4 [ 138.938070] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.0-0-gd239552ce722-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 138.947327] Call Trace: [ 138.949557] <TASK> [ 138.951539] dump_stack_lvl+0x4d/0x67 [ 138.956834] print_report+0x16f/0x4a6 [ 138.960798] ? ntfs_set_ea+0x453/0xbf0 [ 138.964437] ? kasan_complete_mode_report_info+0x7d/0x200 [ 138.969793] ? ntfs_set_ea+0x453/0xbf0 [ 138.973523] kasan_report+0xb8/0x140 [ 138.976740] ? ntfs_set_ea+0x453/0xbf0 [ 138.980578] __asan_store4+0x76/0xa0 [ 138.984669] ntfs_set_ea+0x453/0xbf0 [ 138.988115] ? __pfx_ntfs_set_ea+0x10/0x10 [ 138.993390] ? kernel_text_address+0xd3/0xe0 [ 138.998270] ? __kernel_text_address+0x16/0x50 [ 139.002121] ? unwind_get_return_address+0x3e/0x60 [ 139.005659] ? __pfx_stack_trace_consume_entry+0x10/0x10 [ 139.010177] ? arch_stack_walk+0xa2/0x100 [ 139.013657] ? filter_irq_stacks+0x27/0x80 [ 139.017018] ntfs_setxattr+0x405/0x440 [ 139.022151] ? __pfx_ntfs_setxattr+0x10/0x10 [ 139.026569] ? kvmalloc_node+0x2d/0x120 [ 139.030329] ? kasan_save_stack+0x41/0x60 [ 139.033883] ? kasan_save_stack+0x2a/0x60 [ 139.037338] ? kasan_set_track+0x29/0x40 [ 139.040163] ? kasan_save_alloc_info+0x1f/0x30 [ 139.043588] ? __kasan_kmalloc+0x8b/0xa0 [ 139.047255] ? __kmalloc_node+0x68/0x150 [ 139.051264] ? kvmalloc_node+0x2d/0x120 [ 139.055301] ? vmemdup_user+0x2b/0xa0 [ 139.058584] __vfs_setxattr+0x121/0x170 [ 139.062617] ? __pfx___vfs_setxattr+0x10/0x10 [ 139.066282] __vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x97/0x300 [ 139.070061] __vfs_setxattr_locked+0x145/0x170 [ 139.073580] vfs_setxattr+0x137/0x2a0 [ 139.076641] ? __pfx_vfs_setxattr+0x10/0x10 [ 139.080223] ? __kasan_check_write+0x18/0x20 [ 139.084234] do_setxattr+0xce/0x150 [ 139.087768] setxattr+0x126/0x140 [ 139.091250] ? __pfx_setxattr+0x10/0x10 [ 139.094948] ? __virt_addr_valid+0xcb/0x140 [ 139.097838] ? __call_rcu_common.constprop.0+0x1c7/0x330 [ 139.102688] ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x1b/0x30 [ 139.105985] ? kasan_quarantine_put+0x5b/0x190 [ 139.109980] ? putname+0x84/0xa0 [ 139.113886] ? __kasan_slab_free+0x11e/0x1b0 [ 139.117961] ? putname+0x84/0xa0 [ 139.121316] ? preempt_count_sub+0x1c/0xd0 [ 139.124427] ? __mnt_want_write+0xae/0x100 [ 139.127836] ? mnt_want_write+0x8f/0x150 [ 139.130954] path_setxattr+0x164/0x180 [ 139.133998] ? __pfx_path_setxattr+0x10/0x10 [ 139.137853] ? __pfx_ksys_pwrite64+0x10/0x10 [ 139.141299] ? debug_smp_processor_id+0x1b/0x30 [ 139.145714] ? fpregs_assert_state_consistent+0x6b/0x80 [ 139.150796] __x64_sys_setxattr+0x71/0x90 [ 139.155407] do_syscall_64+0x3f/0x90 [ 139.159035] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc [ 139.163843] RIP: 0033:0x7f108cae4469 [ 139.166481] Code: 00 f3 c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 40 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 088 [ 139.183764] RSP: 002b:00007fff87588388 EFLAGS: 00000286 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000bc [ 139.190657] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f108cae4469 [ 139.196586] RDX: 00007fff875883b0 RSI: 00007fff875883d1 RDI: 00007fff875883b6 [ 139.201716] RBP: 00007fff8758c530 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 00007fff8758c618 [ 139.207940] R10: 0000000000000006 R11: 0000000000000286 R12: 00000000004004c0 [ 139.214007] R13: 00007fff8758c610 R14: 0000000000000000 R15 ---truncated---
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-54125?
How do I fix CVE-2023-54125?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2023-54125 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-54125 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-54125, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54125, GHSA-7223-2xhw-36wm, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2023-54125, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-54125, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54125.