CVE-2022-50344

Published Sep 16, 2025

Last updated 9 months ago

Overview

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix null-ptr-deref in ext4_write_info I caught a null-ptr-deref bug as follows: ================================================================== KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000068-0x000000000000006f] CPU: 1 PID: 1589 Comm: umount Not tainted 5.10.0-02219-dirty #339 RIP: 0010:ext4_write_info+0x53/0x1b0 [...] Call Trace: dquot_writeback_dquots+0x341/0x9a0 ext4_sync_fs+0x19e/0x800 __sync_filesystem+0x83/0x100 sync_filesystem+0x89/0xf0 generic_shutdown_super+0x79/0x3e0 kill_block_super+0xa1/0x110 deactivate_locked_super+0xac/0x130 deactivate_super+0xb6/0xd0 cleanup_mnt+0x289/0x400 __cleanup_mnt+0x16/0x20 task_work_run+0x11c/0x1c0 exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x203/0x210 syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x5b/0x3a0 do_syscall_64+0x59/0x70 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xa9 ================================================================== Above issue may happen as follows: ------------------------------------- exit_to_user_mode_prepare task_work_run __cleanup_mnt cleanup_mnt deactivate_super deactivate_locked_super kill_block_super generic_shutdown_super shrink_dcache_for_umount dentry = sb->s_root sb->s_root = NULL <--- Here set NULL sync_filesystem __sync_filesystem sb->s_op->sync_fs > ext4_sync_fs dquot_writeback_dquots sb->dq_op->write_info > ext4_write_info ext4_journal_start(d_inode(sb->s_root), EXT4_HT_QUOTA, 2) d_inode(sb->s_root) s_root->d_inode <--- Null pointer dereference To solve this problem, we use ext4_journal_start_sb directly to avoid s_root being used.
Source
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD status
Modified
Products
linux_kernel

Risk scores

CVSS 3.1

Type
Primary
Base score
5.5
Impact score
3.6
Exploitability score
1.8
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Severity
MEDIUM

Weaknesses

nvd@nist.gov
CWE-476
134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
CWE-476

Social media

Hype score
Not currently trending

Configurations

  1. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cgroup: Avoid iteration of dying tasks with zero refcount The commit 260fbcb92bbea ("cgroup: Move dying_tasks cleanup from cgroup_task_release() to cgroup_task_free()") extended the lifetime of tasks on the dying_tasks list. The iterators have provision to go through dying_tasks because of dying threadgroup leaders or explicit CSS_TASK_ITER_WITH_DEAD, however, it was expected that such tasks can obtain a new reference (that is possible before cgroup_task_release()/put_task_struct_rcu_user()). The tasks after cgroup_task_release() and before cgroup_task_free() are subject to race when they may or may not have ->usage count > 0. The race window is between css_task_iter_next() invocations when css_set_lock is released and we may arrive at a new ->task_pos. The iterator should not attempt to resurrect tasks whose ->usage count dropped to zero. (When that happens, __put_task_struct_rcu_cb() is already imminent and the returned task_struct would could be used after free.) As for the fix, we cannot simply check the signal->live count of a task on the dying list because that won't distinguish regular zombies waiting to be reaped from RCU remnant tasks that are going to be free'd. Therefore add an extra check to rule out ->usage==0 tasks from any iteration. The repeat: loop in css_task_iter_advance() doesn't consider ->usage count, so add a new loop to css_task_iter_next() to skip de-used tasks on the dying_list. Rough illustration of the possible race R (reader of cgroup.procs) T (thread) L (group leader) --------------------------------- -------------------------------- -------------------------------- L exits, signal->live > 0 cgroup_task_dead(L) css_set_skip_task_iters() // skips only cset->tasks list_add_tail(&L->cg_list, &cset->dying_tasks) css_task_iter_next() take css_set_lock css_task_iter_advance() leader && signal->live != 0 => it->task_pos = &L->cg_list release css_set_lock T exits --signal->live == 0 cgroup_task_dead(T) // css_set_lock release_task(T) cgroup_task_release(T) release_task(L) // zap_leader cgroup_task_release(L) put_task_struct_rcu_user(L) ...RCU... put_task_struct(L) L->usage = 0 /* L still on dying_tasks */ ...RCU... __put_task_struct(L) css_task_iter_next() // another iteration take css_set_lock it->task_pos = &L->cg_list get_task_struct(L) => addition on 0 drop css_set_lock cgroup_task_free(L) css_set_skip_task_iters() // dying skip comes too late free_task(L) cgroup_procs_show() task_pid_vnr(L)•CVE-2026-98163