CVE-2022-50638: ext4: fix bug_on in __es_tree_search caused by bad boot loader inode

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2022-50638 is a vulnerability in linux with no CVSS score yet. EPSS estimates a 0.24% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 15.6% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 09-12-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 11-05-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix bug_on in __es_tree_search caused by bad boot loader inode We got a issue as fllows: ================================================================== kernel BUG at fs/ext4/extents_status.c:203! invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP CPU: 1 PID: 945 Comm: cat Not tainted 6.0.0-next-20221007-dirty #349 RIP: 0010:ext4_es_end.isra.0+0x34/0x42 RSP: 0018:ffffc9000143b768 EFLAGS: 00010203 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8881769cd0b8 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffffffff8fc27cf7 RDI: 00000000ffffffff RBP: ffff8881769cd0bc R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffc9000143b5f8 R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffff8881769cd0a0 R13: ffff8881768e5668 R14: 00000000768e52f0 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 00007f359f7f05c0(0000)GS:ffff88842fd00000(0000)knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f359f5a2000 CR3: 000000017130c000 CR4: 00000000000006e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> __es_tree_search.isra.0+0x6d/0xf5 ext4_es_cache_extent+0xfa/0x230 ext4_cache_extents+0xd2/0x110 ext4_find_extent+0x5d5/0x8c0 ext4_ext_map_blocks+0x9c/0x1d30 ext4_map_blocks+0x431/0xa50 ext4_mpage_readpages+0x48e/0xe40 ext4_readahead+0x47/0x50 read_pages+0x82/0x530 page_cache_ra_unbounded+0x199/0x2a0 do_page_cache_ra+0x47/0x70 page_cache_ra_order+0x242/0x400 ondemand_readahead+0x1e8/0x4b0 page_cache_sync_ra+0xf4/0x110 filemap_get_pages+0x131/0xb20 filemap_read+0xda/0x4b0 generic_file_read_iter+0x13a/0x250 ext4_file_read_iter+0x59/0x1d0 vfs_read+0x28f/0x460 ksys_read+0x73/0x160 __x64_sys_read+0x1e/0x30 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd </TASK> ================================================================== In the above issue, ioctl invokes the swap_inode_boot_loader function to swap inode<5> and inode<12>. However, inode<5> contain incorrect imode and disordered extents, and i_nlink is set to 1. The extents check for inode in the ext4_iget function can be bypassed bacause 5 is EXT4_BOOT_LOADER_INO. While links_count is set to 1, the extents are not initialized in swap_inode_boot_loader. After the ioctl command is executed successfully, the extents are swapped to inode<12>, in this case, run the `cat` command to view inode<12>. And Bug_ON is triggered due to the incorrect extents. When the boot loader inode is not initialized, its imode can be one of the following: 1) the imode is a bad type, which is marked as bad_inode in ext4_iget and set to S_IFREG. 2) the imode is good type but not S_IFREG. 3) the imode is S_IFREG. The BUG_ON may be triggered by bypassing the check in cases 1 and 2. Therefore, when the boot loader inode is bad_inode or its imode is not S_IFREG, initialize the inode to avoid triggering the BUG.

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