CVE-2023-52900: nilfs2: fix general protection fault in nilfs_btree_insert()
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2023-52900 is a medium (CVSS 5.5) vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.24% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 15.2% of scored vulnerabilities.
Not severe (CVSS 5.5, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 5 · Related 5Timeline
- 21-08-2024PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 11-05-2026Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nilfs2: fix general protection fault in nilfs_btree_insert() If nilfs2 reads a corrupted disk image and tries to reads a b-tree node block by calling __nilfs_btree_get_block() against an invalid virtual block address, it returns -ENOENT because conversion of the virtual block address to a disk block address fails. However, this return value is the same as the internal code that b-tree lookup routines return to indicate that the block being searched does not exist, so functions that operate on that b-tree may misbehave. When nilfs_btree_insert() receives this spurious 'not found' code from nilfs_btree_do_lookup(), it misunderstands that the 'not found' check was successful and continues the insert operation using incomplete lookup path data, causing the following crash: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000005: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000028-0x000000000000002f] ... RIP: 0010:nilfs_btree_get_nonroot_node fs/nilfs2/btree.c:418 [inline] RIP: 0010:nilfs_btree_prepare_insert fs/nilfs2/btree.c:1077 [inline] RIP: 0010:nilfs_btree_insert+0x6d3/0x1c10 fs/nilfs2/btree.c:1238 Code: bc 24 80 00 00 00 4c 89 f8 48 c1 e8 03 42 80 3c 28 00 74 08 4c 89 ff e8 4b 02 92 fe 4d 8b 3f 49 83 c7 28 4c 89 f8 48 c1 e8 03 <42> 80 3c 28 00 74 08 4c 89 ff e8 2e 02 92 fe 4d 8b 3f 49 83 c7 02 ... Call Trace: <TASK> nilfs_bmap_do_insert fs/nilfs2/bmap.c:121 [inline] nilfs_bmap_insert+0x20d/0x360 fs/nilfs2/bmap.c:147 nilfs_get_block+0x414/0x8d0 fs/nilfs2/inode.c:101 __block_write_begin_int+0x54c/0x1a80 fs/buffer.c:1991 __block_write_begin fs/buffer.c:2041 [inline] block_write_begin+0x93/0x1e0 fs/buffer.c:2102 nilfs_write_begin+0x9c/0x110 fs/nilfs2/inode.c:261 generic_perform_write+0x2e4/0x5e0 mm/filemap.c:3772 __generic_file_write_iter+0x176/0x400 mm/filemap.c:3900 generic_file_write_iter+0xab/0x310 mm/filemap.c:3932 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 ... </TASK> This patch fixes the root cause of this problem by replacing the error code that __nilfs_btree_get_block() returns on block address conversion failure from -ENOENT to another internal code -EINVAL which means that the b-tree metadata is corrupted. By returning -EINVAL, it propagates without glitches, and for all relevant b-tree operations, functions in the upper bmap layer output an error message indicating corrupted b-tree metadata via nilfs_bmap_convert_error(), and code -EIO will be eventually returned as it should be.
CVSS metrics
4 scores · 3 sources · 2 versions- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated5.5MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated5.5MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
0.24%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
15%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
No change 0.00 pp
From 0.24% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogsNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.
Not in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeNo weakness data has been published for this record.
Affected systems
Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Ubuntu113 products
- linuxAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 4.15.0-209.220 | < 5.4.0-147.164 | < 5.15.0-70.77
- linux-allwinner-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-awsAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 4.15.0-1154.167 | < 5.4.0-1100.108 | < 5.15.0-1034.38
- linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
Linux2 products
- linux≥ a60be987d45dd510aeb54389526f9957cfab106c, < 3c2a2ff67d46106715c2132021b98bd057c27545 | ≥ a60be987d45dd510aeb54389526f9957cfab106c, < d9fde9eab1766170ff2ade67d09178d2cfd78749 | ≥ a60be987d45dd510aeb54389526f9957cfab106c, < b0ba060d3287108eba17603bee3810e4cf2c272d | ≥ a60be987d45dd510aeb54389526f9957cfab106c, < 712bd74eccb9d3626a0a236641962eca8e11a243 | ≥ a60be987d45dd510aeb54389526f9957cfab106c, < 45627a1a6450662e1e0f8174ef07b05710a20062 | ≥ a60be987d45dd510aeb54389526f9957cfab106c, < 0bf463939c09e5b2c35c71ed74a5fd60a74d6a04 | ≥ a60be987d45dd510aeb54389526f9957cfab106c, < 7633355e5c7f29c049a9048e461427d1d8ed3051 | 2.6.30
- linux_kernel< 4.14.304 | ≥ 4.15, < 4.19.271 | ≥ 4.20, < 5.4.230 | ≥ 5.5, < 5.10.165 | ≥ 5.11, < 5.15.90 | ≥ 5.16, < 6.1.8 | 6.2:rc1 | 6.2:rc2 | 6.2:rc3 | 6.2:rc4
Debian1 product
- linux< 6.1.8-1
3 vendors · 116 products