CVE-2026-92503 (GCVE-0-2026-92503)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2026-09-17 16:10
Modified
2026-10-21 12:51
Severity ?
Summary
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.
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
Linux Linux Version: 737fb7853acd5bc8984f6f42e4bfba3334be8ae1
Version: 0a46ef234756dca04623b7591e8ebb3440622f0b
Version: 0a46ef234756dca04623b7591e8ebb3440622f0b
Version: 0a46ef234756dca04623b7591e8ebb3440622f0b
Version: 0a46ef234756dca04623b7591e8ebb3440622f0b
Version: 0752e7fb549d90c33b4d4186f11cfd25a556d1dd
Version: 111103907234bffd0a34fba070ad9367de058752
Version: 6.6.47   ≤
Version: 6.1.107   ≤
Version: 6.9.7   ≤
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{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "fs/ext4/ext4.h",
            "fs/ext4/inode.c",
            "fs/ext4/xattr.c"
          ],
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        {
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          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "fs/ext4/ext4.h",
            "fs/ext4/inode.c",
            "fs/ext4/xattr.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
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              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.12.114",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.18.57",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2.6",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.3",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
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              "operator": "OR"
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      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\next4: fix ABBA deadlock in ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find()\n\nSyzbot/stress-ng reported an ABBA deadlock in ext4 when exercising\nconcurrent xattr workloads (using the ea_inode mount/format option).\n\nThe deadlock occurs between the running transaction and the eviction\nthread:\n- Task 1 (stress-ng): Holds a reference to a shared mbcache_entry (ce)\n  and calls ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find() -\u003e ext4_iget() to retrieve\n  the corresponding EA inode. Since the EA inode is currently being\n  evicted, ext4_iget() blocks in __wait_on_freeing_inode() waiting for\n  eviction to complete.\n- Task 2 (eviction thread): Currently evicting the same EA inode in\n  ext4_evict_ea_inode(). It calls mb_cache_entry_wait_unused(oe) which\n  blocks waiting for Task 1 to release the reference to the mbcache_entry.\n\nTo break this deadlock, implement a new ext4_iget() configuration flag\nnamed EXT4_IGET_NOWAIT. When set, perform a non-blocking lookup of the\ninode via VFS\u0027s find_inode_nowait() API.\n\nIf the inode is currently being evicted (marked with I_FREEING or\nI_WILL_FREE) or created (I_CREATING), or if it is not present in the VFS\ninode cache (cache miss), simply skip it (returning -ENOENT) rather than\nwaiting for eviction/creation to complete, breaking the ABBA cycle.\n\nSince we return -ENOENT immediately on a cache miss, we never attempt to\nallocate a new inode or call iget_locked(), completely eliminating any\nTOCTOU race window.\n\nIf the returned inode is I_NEW, wait for its initialization to clear via\nwait_on_new_inode(). If initialization fails and the inode is unhashed\nduring wait_on_new_inode() waking up (e.g., due to an I/O read error in\nanother thread), safely drop the reference and return -ENOENT. This\nunhashed check is executed unconditionally on all cache-hit pathways to\nproperly handle concurrent initialization failures.\n\nFinally, standard validation checks (including is_bad_inode,\nEXT4_EA_INODE_FL, file_acl, and xattr flags) are executed as normal inside\ncheck_igot_inode() to fully guarantee VFS-layer safety.\n\nIn ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find(), invoke ext4_iget() with the new\nEXT4_IGET_NOWAIT flag to perform the non-blocking cache search."
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-10-21T12:51:44.628Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/29a2a166450a3e89f61a486033b10cf170fde8b0"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d3b19b318e0e0483180d15f1d9f5e807a1fb59d5"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/074d0620401974cbfa9b63684cdfae99c7b2059c"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7720fddd1fe344d14be258a2028f74ebf1569511"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/03438084a7b8621fb5c762dd3d04cff5f2630fb2"
        }
      ],
      "title": "ext4: fix ABBA deadlock in ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find()",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-92503",
    "datePublished": "2026-09-17T16:10:16.062Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-09-16T12:21:13.872Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-10-21T12:51:44.628Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}


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