# CVE-2023-53224: ext4: Fix function prototype mismatch for ext4\_feat\_ktype

- Severity: CVSS 5.5 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-09-15 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 4.16

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: Fix function prototype mismatch for ext4_feat_ktype With clang's kernel control flow integrity (kCFI, CONFIG_CFI_CLANG), indirect call targets are validated against the expected function pointer prototype to make sure the call target is valid to help mitigate ROP attacks. If they are not identical, there is a failure at run time, which manifests as either a kernel panic or thread getting killed. ext4_feat_ktype was setting the "release" handler to "kfree", which doesn't have a matching function prototype. Add a simple wrapper with the correct prototype. This was found as a result of Clang's new -Wcast-function-type-strict flag, which is more sensitive than the simpler -Wcast-function-type, which only checks for type width mismatches. Note that this code is only reached when ext4 is a loadable module and it is being unloaded: CFI failure at kobject_put+0xbb/0x1b0 (target: kfree+0x0/0x180; expected type: 0x7c4aa698) ... RIP: 0010:kobject_put+0xbb/0x1b0 ... Call Trace: <TASK> ext4_exit_sysfs+0x14/0x60 [ext4] cleanup_module+0x67/0xedb [ext4]

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
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## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2b69cdd9f9a7f596e3dd31f05f9852940d177924
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/99e3fd21f8fc975c95e8cf76fbf6a3d2656f8f71
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1ba10d3640e9783dad811fe4e24d55465c37c64d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c98077f7598a562f51051eec043be0cb3e1b1b5e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a1394e07c5d6bf1bfc25db8589ff1b1bfb6f46a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/94d8de83286fb1827340eba35b61c308f6b46ead
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/118901ad1f25d2334255b3d50512fa20591531cd

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