7.8

CVE-2022-50546: ext4: fix uninititialized value in 'ext4_evict_inode'

Analyzed
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2022-50546DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50546
Published 07-10-2025Last modified 23-05-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2022-50546 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use of Uninitialized Resource vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.22% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 12.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Priority
Routine

Not severe (CVSS 7.8, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
7.8/10
010
High · v3.1 (NVD)
EPSS score
0.22%
0%100%
Low · +0.01 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 8 · Related 6
RHSA-2023:2458RHSA-2024:3138SUSE-SU-2025:4111-1SUSE-SU-2025:4135-1SUSE-SU-2025:4139-1SUSE-SU-2025:4149-1

Timeline

  1. 07-10-2025
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 23-05-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix uninititialized value in 'ext4_evict_inode' Syzbot found the following issue: ===================================================== BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in ext4_evict_inode+0xdd/0x26b0 fs/ext4/inode.c:180 ext4_evict_inode+0xdd/0x26b0 fs/ext4/inode.c:180 evict+0x365/0x9a0 fs/inode.c:664 iput_final fs/inode.c:1747 [inline] iput+0x985/0xdd0 fs/inode.c:1773 __ext4_new_inode+0xe54/0x7ec0 fs/ext4/ialloc.c:1361 ext4_mknod+0x376/0x840 fs/ext4/namei.c:2844 vfs_mknod+0x79d/0x830 fs/namei.c:3914 do_mknodat+0x47d/0xaa0 __do_sys_mknodat fs/namei.c:3992 [inline] __se_sys_mknodat fs/namei.c:3989 [inline] __ia32_sys_mknodat+0xeb/0x150 fs/namei.c:3989 do_syscall_32_irqs_on arch/x86/entry/common.c:112 [inline] __do_fast_syscall_32+0xa2/0x100 arch/x86/entry/common.c:178 do_fast_syscall_32+0x33/0x70 arch/x86/entry/common.c:203 do_SYSENTER_32+0x1b/0x20 arch/x86/entry/common.c:246 entry_SYSENTER_compat_after_hwframe+0x70/0x82 Uninit was created at: __alloc_pages+0x9f1/0xe80 mm/page_alloc.c:5578 alloc_pages+0xaae/0xd80 mm/mempolicy.c:2285 alloc_slab_page mm/slub.c:1794 [inline] allocate_slab+0x1b5/0x1010 mm/slub.c:1939 new_slab mm/slub.c:1992 [inline] ___slab_alloc+0x10c3/0x2d60 mm/slub.c:3180 __slab_alloc mm/slub.c:3279 [inline] slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3364 [inline] slab_alloc mm/slub.c:3406 [inline] __kmem_cache_alloc_lru mm/slub.c:3413 [inline] kmem_cache_alloc_lru+0x6f3/0xb30 mm/slub.c:3429 alloc_inode_sb include/linux/fs.h:3117 [inline] ext4_alloc_inode+0x5f/0x860 fs/ext4/super.c:1321 alloc_inode+0x83/0x440 fs/inode.c:259 new_inode_pseudo fs/inode.c:1018 [inline] new_inode+0x3b/0x430 fs/inode.c:1046 __ext4_new_inode+0x2a7/0x7ec0 fs/ext4/ialloc.c:959 ext4_mkdir+0x4d5/0x1560 fs/ext4/namei.c:2992 vfs_mkdir+0x62a/0x870 fs/namei.c:4035 do_mkdirat+0x466/0x7b0 fs/namei.c:4060 __do_sys_mkdirat fs/namei.c:4075 [inline] __se_sys_mkdirat fs/namei.c:4073 [inline] __ia32_sys_mkdirat+0xc4/0x120 fs/namei.c:4073 do_syscall_32_irqs_on arch/x86/entry/common.c:112 [inline] __do_fast_syscall_32+0xa2/0x100 arch/x86/entry/common.c:178 do_fast_syscall_32+0x33/0x70 arch/x86/entry/common.c:203 do_SYSENTER_32+0x1b/0x20 arch/x86/entry/common.c:246 entry_SYSENTER_compat_after_hwframe+0x70/0x82 CPU: 1 PID: 4625 Comm: syz-executor.2 Not tainted 6.1.0-rc4-syzkaller-62821-gcb231e2f67ec #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/26/2022 ===================================================== Now, 'ext4_alloc_inode()' didn't init 'ei->i_flags'. If new inode failed before set 'ei->i_flags' in '__ext4_new_inode()', then do 'iput()'. As after 6bc0d63dad7f commit will access 'ei->i_flags' in 'ext4_evict_inode()' which will lead to access uninit-value. To solve above issue just init 'ei->i_flags' in 'ext4_alloc_inode()'.

CVSS metrics

4 scores · 3 sources · 2 versions

EPSS trend

Probability

0.22%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

13%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

Increase +0.01 pp

From 0.21% on 04-10-2026

04-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Ubuntu110 products
  • linuxAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 5.15.0-69.76
  • linux-allwinner-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-awsAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 5.15.0-1033.37
  • linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
Linux2 products
  • linux≥ bb337d8dd1e1d6b7719872e45e36392f3ab14b4f, < f0bffdcc7cb14598af2aa706f1e0f2a9054154ba | ≥ a5f9bd4beae8553480d02b569d4aabee1b49345d, < e431b4fb1fb8c2654b808086e9747a000adb9655 | ≥ 0e6fbc566fcc4c230bf80f76cf5df26b42142d8a, < 091f85db4c3fb1734a6d7fb4777a2b2831da6631 | ≥ 0b885394fd009aa0b46d81b496a816ab11309f8a, < 3c31d8d3ad95aef8cc17a4fcf317e46217148439 | ≥ 6bc0d63dad7f9f54d381925ee855b402f652fa39, < 56491d60ddca9c697d885394cb0173675b9ab81f | ≥ 6bc0d63dad7f9f54d381925ee855b402f652fa39, < 9f966e021c20caae639dd0e404c8761e8281a2c4 | ≥ 6bc0d63dad7f9f54d381925ee855b402f652fa39, < 7ea71af94eaaaf6d9aed24bc94a05b977a741cb9 | 819d16f7feaca0f2ed3409be14fe953127fc51b6 | 458aee4a6e5be7ad862ee27dfaf07ce552d84f32 | ≥ 5.10.163, < 5.10.164 | ≥ 5.15.61, < 5.15.87 | ≥ 5.18.18, < 5.19 | ≥ 5.19.2, < 5.20 | 6.0
  • linux_kernel≥ 5.15.61, < 5.15.87 | ≥ 5.18.18, < 5.19 | ≥ 5.19.2, < 6.0.18 | ≥ 6.1, < 6.1.4 | 5.10.163
Debian1 product
  • linux< 6.1.4-1

3 vendors · 113 products

References

11 links
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