CVE-2023-54196 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2023-54196
Vulnerability Scoring

Analysis In Progress
Analysis In Progress

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity:
    Attack Complexity Analysis In Progress
  • Attack Vector:
    Attack Vector Under Analysis
  • Privileges Required: None
    No authentication is required for exploitation.
  • Scope:
    Impact is confined to the initially vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: None
    No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2023-54196 Details

Status: Awaiting Analysis

Last updated: 🕣 31 Dec 2025, 20:43 UTC
Originally published on: 🕐 30 Dec 2025, 13:16 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 1 days

CVSS Release:

CVE-2023-54196 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2023-54196: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/ntfs3: Fix NULL pointer dereference in 'ni_write_inode' Syzbot found the following issue: Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000016 Mem abort info: ESR = 0x0000000096000006 EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits SET = 0, FnV = 0 EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 FSC = 0x06: level 2 translation fault Data abort info: ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000006 CM = 0, WnR = 0 user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=000000010af56000 [0000000000000016] pgd=08000001090da003, p4d=08000001090da003, pud=08000001090ce003, pmd=0000000000000000 Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000006 [#1] PREEMPT SMP Modules linked in: CPU: 1 PID: 3036 Comm: syz-executor206 Not tainted 6.0.0-rc6-syzkaller-17739-g16c9f284e746 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 08/26/2022 pstate: 80400005 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : is_rec_inuse fs/ntfs3/ntfs.h:313 [inline] pc : ni_write_inode+0xac/0x798 fs/ntfs3/frecord.c:3232 lr : ni_write_inode+0xa0/0x798 fs/ntfs3/frecord.c:3226 sp : ffff8000126c3800 x29: ffff8000126c3860 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: ffff0000c8b02000 x26: ffff0000c7502320 x25: ffff0000c7502288 x24: 0000000000000000 x23: ffff80000cbec91c x22: ffff0000c8b03000 x21: ffff0000c8b02000 x20: 0000000000000001 x19: ffff0000c75024d8 x18: 00000000000000c0 x17: ffff80000dd1b198 x16: ffff80000db59158 x15: ffff0000c4b6b500 x14: 00000000000000b8 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: ffff0000c4b6b500 x11: ff80800008be1b60 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : ffff0000c4b6b500 x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : ffff800008be1b50 x6 : 0000000000000000 x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000001 x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000000008 x1 : 0000000000000001 x0 : 0000000000000000 Call trace: is_rec_inuse fs/ntfs3/ntfs.h:313 [inline] ni_write_inode+0xac/0x798 fs/ntfs3/frecord.c:3232 ntfs_evict_inode+0x54/0x84 fs/ntfs3/inode.c:1744 evict+0xec/0x334 fs/inode.c:665 iput_final fs/inode.c:1748 [inline] iput+0x2c4/0x324 fs/inode.c:1774 ntfs_new_inode+0x7c/0xe0 fs/ntfs3/fsntfs.c:1660 ntfs_create_inode+0x20c/0xe78 fs/ntfs3/inode.c:1278 ntfs_create+0x54/0x74 fs/ntfs3/namei.c:100 lookup_open fs/namei.c:3413 [inline] open_last_lookups fs/namei.c:3481 [inline] path_openat+0x804/0x11c4 fs/namei.c:3688 do_filp_open+0xdc/0x1b8 fs/namei.c:3718 do_sys_openat2+0xb8/0x22c fs/open.c:1311 do_sys_open fs/open.c:1327 [inline] __do_sys_openat fs/open.c:1343 [inline] __se_sys_openat fs/open.c:1338 [inline] __arm64_sys_openat+0xb0/0xe0 fs/open.c:1338 __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:38 [inline] invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:52 [inline] el0_svc_common+0x138/0x220 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:142 do_el0_svc+0x48/0x164 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:206 el0_svc+0x58/0x150 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:636 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x84/0xf0 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:654 el0t_64_sync+0x18c/0x190 Code: 97dafee4 340001b4 f9401328 2a1f03e0 (79402d14) ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Above issue may happens as follows: ntfs_new_inode mi_init mi->mrec = kmalloc(sbi->record_size, GFP_NOFS); -->failed to allocate memory if (!mi->mrec) return -ENOMEM; iput iput_final evict ntfs_evict_inode ni_write_inode is_rec_inuse(ni->mi.mrec)-> As 'ni->mi.mrec' is NULL trigger NULL-ptr-deref To solve above issue if new inode failed make inode bad before call 'iput()' in 'ntfs_new_inode()'.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2023-54196

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2023-54196 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2023-54196

No exploitability data is available for CVE-2023-54196.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2023-54196, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2023-54196, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: None
    CVE-2023-54196 does not compromise confidentiality.
  • Integrity: None
    CVE-2023-54196 does not impact data integrity.
  • Availability: None
    CVE-2023-54196 does not affect system availability.

CVE-2023-54196 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

Unknown

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