{"id":"CVE-2023-53149","state":"PUBLISHED","title":"ext4: avoid deadlock in fs reclaim with page writeback","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\next4: avoid deadlock in fs reclaim with page writeback\n\nExt4 has a filesystem wide lock protecting ext4_writepages() calls to\navoid races with switching of journalled data flag or inode format. This\nlock can however cause a deadlock like:\n\nCPU0                            CPU1\n\next4_writepages()\n  percpu_down_read(sbi->s_writepages_rwsem);\n                                ext4_change_inode_journal_flag()\n                                  percpu_down_write(sbi->s_writepages_rwsem);\n                                    - blocks, all readers block from now on\n  ext4_do_writepages()\n    ext4_init_io_end()\n      kmem_cache_zalloc(io_end_cachep, GFP_KERNEL)\n        fs_reclaim frees dentry...\n          dentry_unlink_inode()\n            iput() - last ref =>\n              iput_final() - inode dirty =>\n                write_inode_now()...\n                  ext4_writepages() tries to acquire sbi->s_writepages_rwsem\n                    and blocks forever\n\nMake sure we cannot recurse into filesystem reclaim from writeback code\nto avoid the deadlock.","publishedAt":"2025-09-15T14:03:13.334Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-30T12:17:27.269Z","severity":null,"assigner":"Linux","products":["Linux Linux"],"affected":[{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f","status":"affected","lessThan":"385b49a1f34b26f62e3834c773560b120825b6f8","versionType":"git"},{"version":"c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f","status":"affected","lessThan":"2ec97dc90df40c50e509809dc9a198638a7e18b6","versionType":"git"},{"version":"c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f","status":"affected","lessThan":"4b4340bf04ce9a52061f15000ecedd126abc093c","versionType":"git"},{"version":"c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f","status":"affected","lessThan":"00d873c17e29cc32d90ca852b82685f1673acaa5","versionType":"git"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/ext4/ext4.h","fs/ext4/inode.c","fs/ext4/migrate.c"]},{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"affected","versions":[{"version":"4.7","status":"affected"},{"version":"0","status":"unaffected","lessThan":"4.7","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.1.191","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"6.1.*","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.2.16","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"6.2.*","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.3.3","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"6.3.*","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.4","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"*","versionType":"original_commit_for_fix"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/ext4/ext4.h","fs/ext4/inode.c","fs/ext4/migrate.c"]}],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/385b49a1f34b26f62e3834c773560b120825b6f8","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2ec97dc90df40c50e509809dc9a198638a7e18b6","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4b4340bf04ce9a52061f15000ecedd126abc093c","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/00d873c17e29cc32d90ca852b82685f1673acaa5"],"weaknesses":[],"ingestedAt":"2026-10-30T12:34:06.950Z","source":{"repository":"CVEProject/cvelistV5","path":"cves/2023/53xxx/CVE-2023-53149.json","commit":"db8103c5921aac81d5d90efcf3745980dafabf49","baselineCommit":"556c9d3a8cd17e218bb8e452ba7cd619a384ff47"},"raw":{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2023-53149","state":"PUBLISHED","datePublished":"2025-09-15T14:03:13.334Z","dateUpdated":"2026-10-30T12:17:27.269Z","assignerShortName":"Linux","assignerOrgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","dateReserved":"2025-05-02T15:51:43.565Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"title":"ext4: avoid deadlock in fs reclaim with page writeback","descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\next4: avoid deadlock in fs reclaim with page writeback\n\nExt4 has a filesystem wide lock protecting ext4_writepages() calls to\navoid races with switching of journalled data flag or inode format. This\nlock can however cause a deadlock like:\n\nCPU0                            CPU1\n\next4_writepages()\n  percpu_down_read(sbi->s_writepages_rwsem);\n                                ext4_change_inode_journal_flag()\n                                  percpu_down_write(sbi->s_writepages_rwsem);\n                                    - blocks, all readers block from now on\n  ext4_do_writepages()\n    ext4_init_io_end()\n      kmem_cache_zalloc(io_end_cachep, GFP_KERNEL)\n        fs_reclaim frees dentry...\n          dentry_unlink_inode()\n            iput() - last ref =>\n              iput_final() - inode dirty =>\n                write_inode_now()...\n                  ext4_writepages() tries to acquire sbi->s_writepages_rwsem\n                    and blocks forever\n\nMake sure we cannot recurse into filesystem reclaim from writeback code\nto avoid the deadlock."}],"affected":[{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f","status":"affected","lessThan":"385b49a1f34b26f62e3834c773560b120825b6f8","versionType":"git"},{"version":"c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f","status":"affected","lessThan":"2ec97dc90df40c50e509809dc9a198638a7e18b6","versionType":"git"},{"version":"c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f","status":"affected","lessThan":"4b4340bf04ce9a52061f15000ecedd126abc093c","versionType":"git"},{"version":"c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f","status":"affected","lessThan":"00d873c17e29cc32d90ca852b82685f1673acaa5","versionType":"git"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/ext4/ext4.h","fs/ext4/inode.c","fs/ext4/migrate.c"]},{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"affected","versions":[{"version":"4.7","status":"affected"},{"version":"0","status":"unaffected","lessThan":"4.7","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.1.191","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"6.1.*","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.2.16","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"6.2.*","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.3.3","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"6.3.*","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.4","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"*","versionType":"original_commit_for_fix"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/ext4/ext4.h","fs/ext4/inode.c","fs/ext4/migrate.c"]}],"references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/385b49a1f34b26f62e3834c773560b120825b6f8"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2ec97dc90df40c50e509809dc9a198638a7e18b6"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4b4340bf04ce9a52061f15000ecedd126abc093c"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/00d873c17e29cc32d90ca852b82685f1673acaa5"}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"Linux","orgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","dateUpdated":"2026-10-30T12:17:27.269Z"},"cpeApplicability":[{"nodes":[{"operator":"OR","negate":false,"cpeMatch":[{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"4.7","versionEndExcluding":"6.1.191"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"4.7","versionEndExcluding":"6.2.16"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"4.7","versionEndExcluding":"6.3.3"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"4.7","versionEndExcluding":"6.4"}]}]}],"x_generator":{"engine":"bippy-1.2.0"}}}}}