Local kernel crash via allocation-size overflow
Published Apr 2, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
NULL pointer dereference in the Linux NTFS3 driver allows local users to crash a 32-bit kernel via a crafted NTFS attribute list. In ntfs_load_attr_list(), adding 1023 to the resident data_size can wrap to zero, so kmalloc returns ZERO_SIZE_PTR and the following memcpy causes an Oops. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access, a 32-bit kernel, and NTFS3 processing of the crafted metadata; the bounded impact is service interruption.
Summary
What happened
NULL pointer dereference in the Linux NTFS3 driver allows local users to crash a 32-bit kernel via a crafted NTFS attribute list. In ntfs_load_attr_list(), adding 1023 to the resident data_size can wrap to zero, so kmalloc returns ZERO_SIZE_PTR and the following memcpy causes an Oops. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access, a 32-bit kernel, and NTFS3 processing of the crafted metadata; the bounded impact is service interruption.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-52631
- Published
- Apr 2, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-476, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 2, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=5.15
- Affected versionversion=be71b5cba2e6485e8959da7a9f9a44461a1bb074 <686820fe141ea0220fc6fdfc7e5694f915cf64b2
- Affected versionversion=be71b5cba2e6485e8959da7a9f9a44461a1bb074 <ae4acad41b0f93f1c26cc0fc9135bb79d8282d0b
- Affected versionversion=be71b5cba2e6485e8959da7a9f9a44461a1bb074 <b2dd7b953c25ffd5912dda17e980e7168bebcf6c
- Affected versionversion=be71b5cba2e6485e8959da7a9f9a44461a1bb074 <ec1bedd797588fe38fc11cba26d77bb1d9b194c6
- Affected versionversion=be71b5cba2e6485e8959da7a9f9a44461a1bb074 <fb7bcd1722bc9bc55160378f5f99c01198fd14a7
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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