CVE-2023-53339: linux Reachable Assertion

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-53339 is a medium (CVSS 5.5) Reachable Assertion vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 9.9% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 17-09-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 11-05-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix BUG_ON condition in btrfs_cancel_balance Pausing and canceling balance can race to interrupt balance lead to BUG_ON panic in btrfs_cancel_balance. The BUG_ON condition in btrfs_cancel_balance does not take this race scenario into account. However, the race condition has no other side effects. We can fix that. Reproducing it with panic trace like this: kernel BUG at fs/btrfs/volumes.c:4618! RIP: 0010:btrfs_cancel_balance+0x5cf/0x6a0 Call Trace: <TASK> ? do_nanosleep+0x60/0x120 ? hrtimer_nanosleep+0xb7/0x1a0 ? sched_core_clone_cookie+0x70/0x70 btrfs_ioctl_balance_ctl+0x55/0x70 btrfs_ioctl+0xa46/0xd20 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x7d/0xa0 do_syscall_64+0x38/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd Race scenario as follows: > mutex_unlock(&fs_info->balance_mutex); > -------------------- > .......issue pause and cancel req in another thread > -------------------- > ret = __btrfs_balance(fs_info); > > mutex_lock(&fs_info->balance_mutex); > if (ret == -ECANCELED && atomic_read(&fs_info->balance_pause_req)) { > btrfs_info(fs_info, "balance: paused"); > btrfs_exclop_balance(fs_info, BTRFS_EXCLOP_BALANCE_PAUSED); > }

• CWE-617Reachable AssertionThe product contains an assert() or similar statement that can be triggered by an attacker, which leads to an application exit or other behavior that is more severe than necessary.