Vulnerability Database

374,078

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2023-53337 — linux / linux_kernel

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

nilfs2: do not write dirty data after degenerating to read-only

According to syzbot's report, mark_buffer_dirty() called from nilfs_segctor_do_construct() outputs a warning with some patterns after nilfs2 detects metadata corruption and degrades to read-only mode.

After such read-only degeneration, page cache data may be cleared through nilfs_clear_dirty_page() which may also clear the uptodate flag for their buffer heads. However, even after the degeneration, log writes are still performed by unmount processing etc., which causes mark_buffer_dirty() to be called for buffer heads without the "uptodate" flag and causes the warning.

Since any writes should not be done to a read-only file system in the first place, this fixes the warning in mark_buffer_dirty() by letting nilfs_segctor_do_construct() abort early if in read-only mode.

This also changes the retry check of nilfs_segctor_write_out() to avoid unnecessary log write retries if it detects -EROFS that nilfs_segctor_do_construct() returned.

  • Published: Sep 17, 2025
  • Updated: Dec 14, 2025
  • CVE: CVE-2023-53337
  • 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

No CWE or OWASP classifications available.

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A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

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Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

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