{"id":"CVE-2023-53149","title":"ext4: avoid deadlock in fs reclaim with page writeback","summary":"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 d…","severity":"none","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","affected":["Linux >= c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f < 385b49a1f34b26f62e3834c773560b120825b6f8","Linux >= c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f < 2ec97dc90df40c50e509809dc9a198638a7e18b6","Linux >= c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f < 4b4340bf04ce9a52061f15000ecedd126abc093c","Linux >= c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f < 00d873c17e29cc32d90ca852b82685f1673acaa5","Linux 4.7"],"ssvc":{"exploitation":"none","automatable":"no","technicalImpact":"partial","timestamp":"2026-11-05T20:19:11.717190Z"},"published":"2025-09-15","updated":"2026-11-05","sourceUpdated":"2026-11-05T20:21:05.202Z","source":"CVEORG","sourceUrl":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-53149","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"}],"tags":["cve.org"],"epss":0.00121,"epssPercentile":0.01885,"ingestedAt":"2026-11-03T11:43:15.785Z","slug":"CVE-2023-53149","body":"## Overview\n\nIn 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.\n\n## Affected\n\n- `Linux >= c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f < 385b49a1f34b26f62e3834c773560b120825b6f8`\n- `Linux >= c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f < 2ec97dc90df40c50e509809dc9a198638a7e18b6`\n- `Linux >= c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f < 4b4340bf04ce9a52061f15000ecedd126abc093c`\n- `Linux >= c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f < 00d873c17e29cc32d90ca852b82685f1673acaa5`\n- `Linux 4.7`\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.","depth":"sunlit","depthScore":3,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":2.8,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}