Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-54281)

Summary

Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2023-54281). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

btrfs: release path before inode lookup during the ino lookup ioctl

During the ino lookup ioctl we can end up calling btrfs_iget() to get an
inode reference while we are holding on a root's btree. If btrfs_iget()
needs to lookup the inode from the root's btree, because it's not
currently loaded in memory, then it will need to lock another or the
same path in the same root btree. This may result in a deadlock and
trigger the following lockdep splat:

WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
6.5.0-rc7-syzkaller-00004-gf7757129e3de #0 Not tainted

syz-executor277/5012 is trying to acquire lock:
ffff88802df41710 (btrfs-tree-01){++++}-{3:3}, at: __btrfs_tree_read_lock+0x2f/0x220 fs/btrfs/locking.c:136

but task is already holding lock:
ffff88802df418e8 (btrfs-tree-00){++++}-{3:3}, at: __btrfs_tree_read_lock+0x2f/0x220 fs/btrfs/locking.c:136

which lock already depends on the new lock.

the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is:

-> #1 (btrfs-tree-00){++++}-{3:3}:
down_read_nested+0x49/0x2f0 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1645
__btrfs_tree_read_lock+0x2f/0x220 fs/btrfs/locking.c:136
btrfs_search_slot+0x13a4/0x2f80 fs/btrfs/ctree.c:2302
btrfs_init_root_free_objectid+0x148/0x320 fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:4955
btrfs_init_fs_root fs/btrfs/disk-io.c:1128 [inline]
btrfs_get_root_ref+0…

Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD OSV

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-54281 has been found in Kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2023-54281" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2023-54281 (Kernel)
Patched: 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

A vulnerability (unclassified) exists in Kernel.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Kernel.

🔥 Severity

Severity: ?. Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.

🔧 How to fix

Update to 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'Kernel' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

1
Identify exposure identify
```
grep -r 'Kernel' . | grep -v node_modules
```
リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で Kernel を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。
2
Apply patch patch
```
Upgrade Kernel to 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5
```
ステージング環境で 5.10.197, 5.15.133, 6.1.55, 6.5.5 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
3
Post-deployment verification verify
```
Confirm patched version is live in production
```
パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Affected packages

Linux Kernel

[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"4.18.0"},{"fixed":"5.10.197"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.11.0"},{"fixed":"5.15.133"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"5.16.0"},{"fixed":"6.1.55"}]},{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"6.2.0"},{"fixed":"6.5.5"}]}]

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2023-54281 linux Fixed in: 5.10.197-1
Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2023-54281 linux-hwe-edge