5.5

CVE-2024-40972: ext4: do not create EA inode under buffer lock

Modified
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2024-40972DEBIAN-CVE-2024-40972
Published 12-07-2024Last modified 11-05-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2024-40972 is a medium (CVSS 5.5) Improper Locking vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.22% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 12.7% of scored vulnerabilities.

Priority
Routine

Not severe (CVSS 5.5, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
5.5/10
010
Medium · v3.1 (NVD)
EPSS score
0.22%
0%100%
Low · 0.00 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 20 · Related 15
DLA-4008-1DSA-5782-1RHSA-2024:7000RHSA-2024:7001RHSA-2024:8617SUSE-SU-2024:2802-1

Timeline

  1. 12-07-2024
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 11-05-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: do not create EA inode under buffer lock ext4_xattr_set_entry() creates new EA inodes while holding buffer lock on the external xattr block. This is problematic as it nests all the allocation locking (which acquires locks on other buffers) under the buffer lock. This can even deadlock when the filesystem is corrupted and e.g. quota file is setup to contain xattr block as data block. Move the allocation of EA inode out of ext4_xattr_set_entry() into the callers.

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

No change 0.00 pp

From 0.22% 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.

Ubuntu128 products
  • linuxAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 6.8.0-44.44
  • linux-allwinner-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-awsAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 6.8.0-1015.16
  • linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
Linux2 products
  • linux≥ e50e5129f384ae282adebfb561189cdb19b81cee, < 0752e7fb549d90c33b4d4186f11cfd25a556d1dd | ≥ e50e5129f384ae282adebfb561189cdb19b81cee, < 737fb7853acd5bc8984f6f42e4bfba3334be8ae1 | ≥ e50e5129f384ae282adebfb561189cdb19b81cee, < 111103907234bffd0a34fba070ad9367de058752 | ≥ e50e5129f384ae282adebfb561189cdb19b81cee, < 0a46ef234756dca04623b7591e8ebb3440622f0b | 4.13
  • linux_kernel< 6.1.107 | ≥ 6.2, < 6.6.47 | ≥ 6.7, < 6.9.7
Debian1 product
  • linux< 6.1.112-1 | < 6.9.7-1

3 vendors · 131 products

References

16 links
Show all 16 references