CVE-2023-53485 | fs: jfs: Fix UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in dbAllocDmapLev

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs: jfs: Fix UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in dbAllocDmapLev Syzkaller reported the following issue: UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in fs/jfs/jfs_dmap.c:1965:6 index -84 is out of range for type 's8[341]' (aka 'signed char[341]') CPU: 1 PID: 4995 Comm: syz-executor146 Not tainted 6.4.0-rc6-syzkaller-00037-gb6dad5178cea #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 05/27/2023 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x1e7/0x2d0 lib/dump_stack.c:106 ubsan_epilogue lib/ubsan.c:217 [inline] __ubsan_handle_out_of_bounds+0x11c/0x150 lib/ubsan.c:348 dbAllocDmapLev+0x3e5/0x430 fs/jfs/jfs_dmap.c:1965 dbAllocCtl+0x113/0x920 fs/jfs/jfs_dmap.c:1809 dbAllocAG+0x28f/0x10b0 fs/jfs/jfs_dmap.c:1350 dbAlloc+0x658/0xca0 fs/jfs/jfs_dmap.c:874 dtSplitUp fs/jfs/jfs_dtree.c:974 [inline] dtInsert+0xda7/0x6b00 fs/jfs/jfs_dtree.c:863 jfs_create+0x7b6/0xbb0 fs/jfs/namei.c:137 lookup_open fs/namei.c:3492 [inline] open_last_lookups fs/namei.c:3560 [inline] path_openat+0x13df/0x3170 fs/namei.c:3788 do_filp_open+0x234/0x490 fs/namei.c:3818 do_sys_openat2+0x13f/0x500 fs/open.c:1356 do_sys_open fs/open.c:1372 [inline] __do_sys_openat fs/open.c:1388 [inline] __se_sys_openat fs/open.c:1383 [inline] __x64_sys_openat+0x247/0x290 fs/open.c:1383 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd RIP: 0033:0x7f1f4e33f7e9 Code: 28 00 00 00 75 05 48 83 c4 28 c3 e8 51 14 00 00 90 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 c0 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007ffc21129578 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000101 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f1f4e33f7e9 RDX: 000000000000275a RSI: 0000000020000040 RDI: 00000000ffffff9c RBP: 00007f1f4e2ff080 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00007f1f4e2ff110 R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000 </TASK> The bug occurs when the dbAllocDmapLev()function attempts to access dp->tree.stree[leafidx + LEAFIND] while the leafidx value is negative. To rectify this, the patch introduces a safeguard within the dbAllocDmapLev() function. A check has been added to verify if leafidx is negative. If it is, the function immediately returns an I/O error, preventing any further execution that could potentially cause harm. Tested via syzbot.

Published: 2025-10-01 Last update: 2026-01-23 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-53485 is rated Low Risk (33/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-53485

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-10-01 0.02%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53485

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53485

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53485

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-53485 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-53485
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53485
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53485/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-53485 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 162, released 138, not-affected 76, needed 20, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53485

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53485

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 2.6.12.1, < 4.14.324 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.15, < 4.19.293 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 5.4.255 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.192 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.123 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.42 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.4.7 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.12:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.12:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.12:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.12:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 2.6.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.12:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-53485

cvelogic Threat Intelligence