Cloudanix VulnDB

CVE-2023-53862

None

CVSS

—

EPSS

0.2%

Published

Dec 9, 2025

CISA due date

—

Cloudanix analysis

Schedule a fix SSVC: Track

A bug in handling certain older Mac-style disk formats inside the Linux kernel can cause the whole system to crash during routine file operations.

Exploitation
Local Privilege
Attacker needs
Local User
Complexity
Moderate
Impact
Denial Of Service
Component
OS kernel
Class
Use After Free
Remediation
Upgrade
Effort
Medium
Patch risk
Low

What it actually does

Missing hfs_bnode_get() call after locating a cached bnode in __hfs_bnode_create allows refcnt to reach zero, triggering BUG_ON in hfs_bnode_put during subsequent put operations on HFS bnodes.

Why it matters to the business

Kernel crashes or panics can occur during writeback or inode operations on HFS volumes, leading to system instability, data loss risk, and unplanned downtime on affected Linux systems.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker supplies a specially crafted HFS filesystem image or triggers filesystem write paths that exercise hfs_bmap_alloc followed by hfs_btree_write; the missing reference increment in the find path causes the node to be freed while still referenced, hitting the refcnt assertion.

How to fix it

Apply the upstream fix in commit 062af3e9930762d1fd22946748d34e0d859e4a8e or later stable kernels; for Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04 update phpmyadmin packages to the listed fixed versions if the component is present in the environment.

How to confirm the fix worked

Verify the presence of the fix commit in the running kernel source, reproduce the syzbot reproducer path without triggering BUG_ON, and confirm atomic refcnt remains positive across bnode find/put cycles.

Typical attack path

  1. Mount or access a malicious HFS volume
  2. Trigger bmap allocation creating a bnode with refcnt 1
  3. Perform write operations invoking hfs_btree_write
  4. hfs_bnode_find locates the node via hash without incrementing refcnt
  5. hfs_bnode_put decrements to zero and hits BUG_ON

How to detect it

Inspect kernel logs for hfs_bnode_put BUG_ON messages and stack traces involving hfs_write_inode or writeback paths; review audit logs for unusual HFS mount or write activity.

What your security team should do

  • Prioritize kernel updates on systems exposing HFS filesystems
  • Monitor for HFS mount activity on production hosts
  • Test filesystem writeback workloads after patching

The record

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hfs: fix missing hfs_bnode_get() in __hfs_bnode_create Syzbot found a kernel BUG in hfs_bnode_put(): kernel BUG at fs/hfs/bnode.c:466! invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN CPU: 0 PID: 3634 Comm: kworker/u4:5 Not tainted 6.1.0-rc7-syzkaller-00190-g97ee9d1c1696 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/26/2022 Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-7:0) RIP: 0010:hfs_bnode_put+0x46f/0x480 fs/hfs/bnode.c:466 Code: 8a 80 ff e9 73 fe ff ff 89 d9 80 e1 07 80 c1 03 38 c1 0f 8c a0 fe ff ff 48 89 df e8 db 8a 80 ff e9 93 fe ff ff e8 a1 68 2c ff <0f> 0b e8 9a 68 2c ff 0f 0b 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 55 41 57 41 56 RSP: 0018:ffffc90003b4f258 EFLAGS: 00010293 RAX: ffffffff825e318f RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: ffff8880739dd7c0 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: ffffc90003b4f430 R08: ffffffff825e2d9b R09: ffffed10045157d1 R10: ffffed10045157d1 R11: 1ffff110045157d0 R12: ffff8880228abe80 R13: ffff88807016c000 R14: dffffc0000000000 R15: ffff8880228abe00 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880b9800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007fa6ebe88718 CR3: 000000001e93d000 CR4: 00000000003506f0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> hfs_write_inode+0x1bc/0xb40 write_inode fs/fs-writeback.c:1440 [inline] __writeback_single_inode+0x4d6/0x670 fs/fs-writeback.c:1652 writeback_sb_inodes+0xb3b/0x18f0 fs/fs-writeback.c:1878 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x125/0x420 fs/fs-writeback.c:1949 wb_writeback+0x440/0x7b0 fs/fs-writeback.c:2054 wb_check_start_all fs/fs-writeback.c:2176 [inline] wb_do_writeback fs/fs-writeback.c:2202 [inline] wb_workfn+0x827/0xef0 fs/fs-writeback.c:2235 process_one_work+0x877/0xdb0 kernel/workqueue.c:2289 worker_thread+0xb14/0x1330 kernel/workqueue.c:2436 kthread+0x266/0x300 kernel/kthread.c:376 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:306 </TASK> The BUG_ON() is triggered at here: /* Dispose of resources used by a node */ void hfs_bnode_put(struct hfs_bnode *node) { if (node) { <skipped> BUG_ON(!atomic_read(&node->refcnt)); <- we have issue here!!!! <skipped> } } By tracing the refcnt, I found the node is created by hfs_bmap_alloc() with refcnt 1. Then the node is used by hfs_btree_write(). There is a missing of hfs_bnode_get() after find the node. The issue happened in following path: <alloc> hfs_bmap_alloc hfs_bnode_find __hfs_bnode_create <- allocate a new node with refcnt 1. hfs_bnode_put <- decrease the refcnt <write> hfs_btree_write hfs_bnode_find __hfs_bnode_create hfs_bnode_findhash <- find the node without refcnt increased. hfs_bnode_put <- trigger the BUG_ON() since refcnt is 0.

Affected packages

Ecosystem Package Introduced Fixed
Linux Kernel 0 4.14.308
Linux Kernel 2.6.12 4.14.308
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP4 kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS kernel-64kb 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS kernel-default-base 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS kernel-docs 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS kernel-obs-build 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS kernel-source 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS kernel-syms 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-64kb 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-default-base 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-docs 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-obs-build 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-source 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-syms 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP4 kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP4 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP4_Update_48 0 1-150400.9.7.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 kernel-default-base 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 kernel-rt 0 5.14.21-150400.15.142.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 kernel-source-rt 0 5.14.21-150400.15.142.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 kernel-default-base 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 kernel-rt 0 5.14.21-150400.15.142.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 kernel-source-rt 0 5.14.21-150400.15.142.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 kernel-rt 0 5.14.21-150500.13.118.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 kernel-source-rt 0 5.14.21-150500.13.118.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-64kb 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-default-base 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-docs 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-obs-build 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-source 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-syms 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS kernel-zfcpdump 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 kernel-default-base 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1.150400.24.98.3
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 kernel-docs 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 kernel-obs-build 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 kernel-source 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 kernel-syms 0 5.14.21-150400.24.194.1

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