Kernel privilege escalation via freed decompression context
Published May 21, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux F2FS compression allows local users to crash the kernel or execute code via reads of compressed files. The f2fs_read_multi_pages() loop continues after f2fs_decompress_cluster() releases its decompress_io_ctx on a compress_inode cache hit, then accesses the freed context and page pointers. Reachability requires read access to a compressed F2FS file on a volume using the compressed-block cache; exploitation can panic the kernel or gain kernel privileges.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux F2FS compression allows local users to crash the kernel or execute code via reads of compressed files. The f2fs_read_multi_pages() loop continues after f2fs_decompress_cluster() releases its decompress_io_ctx on a compress_inode cache hit, then accesses the freed context and page pointers. Reachability requires read access to a compressed F2FS file on a volume using the compressed-block cache; exploitation can panic the kernel or gain kernel privileges.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-52852
- Published
- May 21, 2024
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 21, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 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=5.13.19 <5.14
- Affected versionversion=5.14
- Affected versionversion=6ce19aff0b8cd386860855185c6cd79337fc4d2b <8c4504cc0c64862740a6acb301e0cfa59580dbc5
- Affected versionversion=6ce19aff0b8cd386860855185c6cd79337fc4d2b <932ddb5c29e884cc6fac20417ece72ba4a35c401
- Affected versionversion=6ce19aff0b8cd386860855185c6cd79337fc4d2b <9375ea7f269093d7c884857ae1f47633a91f429c
- Affected versionversion=6ce19aff0b8cd386860855185c6cd79337fc4d2b <9d065aa52b6ee1b06f9c4eca881c9b4425a12ba2
- Affected versionversion=6ce19aff0b8cd386860855185c6cd79337fc4d2b <b0327c84e91a0f4f0abced8cb83ec86a7083f086
- Affected versionversion=a23706426da9b611be5beae0f3faa260fb453b4e
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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