Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-53813

medium Nessus Plugin ID 278070

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix rbtree traversal bug in ext4_mb_use_preallocated During allocations, while looking for preallocations(PA) in the per inode rbtree, we can't do a direct traversal of the tree because ext4_mb_discard_group_preallocation() can paralelly mark the pa deleted and that can cause direct traversal to skip some entries. This was leading to a BUG_ON() being hit [1] when we missed a PA that could satisfy our request and ultimately tried to create a new PA that would overlap with the missed one. To makes sure we handle that case while still keeping the performance of the rbtree, we make use of the fact that the only pa that could possibly overlap the original goal start is the one that satisfies the below conditions: 1. It must have it's logical start immediately to the left of (ie less than) original logical start. 2. It must not be deleted To find this pa we use the following traversal method: 1. Descend into the rbtree normally to find the immediate neighboring PA. Here we keep descending irrespective of if the PA is deleted or if it overlaps with our request etc. The goal is to find an immediately adjacent PA. 2. If the found PA is on right of original goal, use rb_prev() to find the left adjacent PA. 3. Check if this PA is deleted and keep moving left with rb_prev() until a non deleted PA is found. 4. This is the PA we are looking for. Now we can check if it can satisfy the original request and proceed accordingly. This approach also takes care of having deleted PAs in the tree. (While we are at it, also fix a possible overflow bug in calculating the end of a PA) [1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-ext4/CA+G9fYv2FRpLqBZf34ZinR8bU2_ZRAUOjKAD3+tKRFaEQHtt8Q@mail.gmail.com/ (CVE-2023-53813)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2023-53813

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 278070

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2023_53813.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 12/10/2025

Updated: 12/10/2025

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-doc, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:libperf-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-selftests-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools-libs-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-cross-headers, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools-libs, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:perf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-abi-stablelists, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:bpftool, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-uki-virt-addons, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-uki-virt-addons, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:rv, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-uki-virt, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-headers, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:libperf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:python3-perf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-selftests-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:rtla, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-ipaclones-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-uki-virt, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-kvm

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/9/2025

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2023-53813