Vulnerability Database

374,078

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2023-53246 — linux / linux_kernel

NULL Pointer Dereference

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

cifs: fix DFS traversal oops without CONFIG_CIFS_DFS_UPCALL

When compiled with CONFIG_CIFS_DFS_UPCALL disabled, cifs_dfs_d_automount is NULL. cifs.ko logic for mapping CIFS_FATTR_DFS_REFERRAL attributes to S_AUTOMOUNT and corresponding dentry flags is retained regardless of CONFIG_CIFS_DFS_UPCALL, leading to a NULL pointer dereference in VFS follow_automount() when traversing a DFS referral link: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 ... Call Trace: <TASK> __traverse_mounts+0xb5/0x220 ? cifs_revalidate_mapping+0x65/0xc0 [cifs] step_into+0x195/0x610 ? lookup_fast+0xe2/0xf0 path_lookupat+0x64/0x140 filename_lookup+0xc2/0x140 ? __create_object+0x299/0x380 ? kmem_cache_alloc+0x119/0x220 ? user_path_at_empty+0x31/0x50 user_path_at_empty+0x31/0x50 __x64_sys_chdir+0x2a/0xd0 ? exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0xca/0x100 do_syscall_64+0x42/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x72/0xdc

This fix adds an inline cifs_dfs_d_automount() {return -EREMOTE} handler when CONFIG_CIFS_DFS_UPCALL is disabled. An alternative would be to avoid flagging S_AUTOMOUNT, etc. without CONFIG_CIFS_DFS_UPCALL. This approach was chosen as it provides more control over the error path.

  • Published: Sep 15, 2025
  • Updated: Dec 4, 2025
  • CVE: CVE-2023-53246
  • Severity: Medium
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Medium
  • Score: 5.5
  • AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWEs:

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