-

CVE-2026-92503

ext4: fix ABBA deadlock in ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ext4: fix ABBA deadlock in ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find()

Syzbot/stress-ng reported an ABBA deadlock in ext4 when exercising
concurrent xattr workloads (using the ea_inode mount/format option).

The deadlock occurs between the running transaction and the eviction
thread:
- Task 1 (stress-ng): Holds a reference to a shared mbcache_entry (ce)
  and calls ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find() -> ext4_iget() to retrieve
  the corresponding EA inode. Since the EA inode is currently being
  evicted, ext4_iget() blocks in __wait_on_freeing_inode() waiting for
  eviction to complete.
- Task 2 (eviction thread): Currently evicting the same EA inode in
  ext4_evict_ea_inode(). It calls mb_cache_entry_wait_unused(oe) which
  blocks waiting for Task 1 to release the reference to the mbcache_entry.

To break this deadlock, implement a new ext4_iget() configuration flag
named EXT4_IGET_NOWAIT. When set, perform a non-blocking lookup of the
inode via VFS's find_inode_nowait() API.

If the inode is currently being evicted (marked with I_FREEING or
I_WILL_FREE) or created (I_CREATING), or if it is not present in the VFS
inode cache (cache miss), simply skip it (returning -ENOENT) rather than
waiting for eviction/creation to complete, breaking the ABBA cycle.

Since we return -ENOENT immediately on a cache miss, we never attempt to
allocate a new inode or call iget_locked(), completely eliminating any
TOCTOU race window.

If the returned inode is I_NEW, wait for its initialization to clear via
wait_on_new_inode(). If initialization fails and the inode is unhashed
during wait_on_new_inode() waking up (e.g., due to an I/O read error in
another thread), safely drop the reference and return -ENOENT. This
unhashed check is executed unconditionally on all cache-hit pathways to
properly handle concurrent initialization failures.

Finally, standard validation checks (including is_bad_inode,
EXT4_EA_INODE_FL, file_acl, and xattr flags) are executed as normal inside
check_igot_inode() to fully guarantee VFS-layer safety.

In ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find(), invoke ext4_iget() with the new
EXT4_IGET_NOWAIT flag to perform the non-blocking cache search.
Daten sind bereitgestellt durch das CVE Programm von einer CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) (Unstrukturiert).
HerstellerLinux
≫
Produkt Linux
Default Statusunaffected
Version 0a46ef234756dca04623b7591e8ebb3440622f0b
Version < 7720fddd1fe344d14be258a2028f74ebf1569511
Status affected
Version 0a46ef234756dca04623b7591e8ebb3440622f0b
Version < 03438084a7b8621fb5c762dd3d04cff5f2630fb2
Status affected
Version 0752e7fb549d90c33b4d4186f11cfd25a556d1dd
Status affected
Version 737fb7853acd5bc8984f6f42e4bfba3334be8ae1
Status affected
Version 111103907234bffd0a34fba070ad9367de058752
Status affected
Version 6.1.107
Version < 6.2
Status affected
Version 6.6.47
Version < 6.7
Status affected
Version 6.9.7
Version < 6.10
Status affected
HerstellerLinux
≫
Produkt Linux
Default Statusaffected
Version 6.10
Status affected
Version 0
Version < 6.10
Status unaffected
Version <= 7.2.*
Version 7.2.6
Status unaffected
Version <= *
Version 7.3-rc1
Status unaffected
VulnDex Vulnerability Enrichment
Diese Information steht angemeldeten Benutzern zur Verfügung. Login Login
Zu dieser CVE wurde keine Warnung gefunden.
EPSS Metriken
Typ Quelle Score Percentile
EPSS FIRST.org 0.19% 0.089
CVSS Metriken
Quelle Base Score Exploit Score Impact Score Vector String
Es wurden noch keine Informationen zu CWE veröffentlicht.
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7720fddd1fe344d14be258a2028f74ebf1569511
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/03438084a7b8621fb5c762dd3d04cff5f2630fb2