Linux Kernel ext4 NULL PTR DEREF via premature sbi free
CVE-2026-99174 Published on October 28, 2026
ext4: free the sbi after a grace period
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ext4: free the sbi after a grace period
ext4_get_link() follows a symlink that keeps its target in a data block
in rcu pathwalk mode with ext4_getblk(EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CACHED_NOWAIT).
That reads s_mount_state in the ASSERT() of ext4_getblk() and again in
ext4_es_lookup_extent(), and the lookup bumps the extent status hit or
miss counter, all through sb->s_fs_info.
ext4_put_super() destroys those counters, clears sb->s_fs_info and frees
the sbi without waiting for a grace period. A pathwalk that is still in
ext4_get_link() when the last reference to the mount goes away then
dereferences a NULL s_fs_info, the freed sbi or the destroyed percpu
counters.
With a pathwalk held up in ext4_get_link() while the last reference
goes away:
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x00000000000000a8-0x00000000000000af]
RIP: 0010:ext4_getblk+0xf0/0x640
Call Trace:
<TASK>
ext4_get_link+0x26c/0x410
pick_link+0xf96/0x1780
step_into_slowpath+0x9b8/0x1250
path_lookupat+0x484/0xb00
filename_lookup+0x1f1/0x5b0
vfs_statx+0xd7/0x3b0
vfs_fstatat+0x4d/0x90
__do_sys_newfstatat+0xa0/0x100
do_syscall_64+0x10e/0x5e0
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
So far that has been hard to hit. umount(2) waits for a grace period in
namespace_unlock() before it drops the mount, so only a mount whose last
reference goes away elsewhere, like the close of a file or a chdir out of
a lazily unmounted directory, can race a walker.
Keep sb->s_fs_info and free the sbi together with the extent status
counters after a grace period. Split the counters out of
ext4_es_unregister_shrinker() for that. The shrinker still gets wasted
in ext4_put_super(), the counters go with the sbi.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-99174
Want to know whenever a new CVE is published for Linux Kernel? stack.watch will email you.
Affected Versions
Linux:- Version 6493792d3299b3e33f887ef8a150099d271faf9c and below 80d5db1686b05fad6f384be017714297d828a714 is affected.
- Version 6493792d3299b3e33f887ef8a150099d271faf9c and below 87d29b8b849738d52fe820d495fa0aa2d5a1ec82 is affected.
- Version 6493792d3299b3e33f887ef8a150099d271faf9c and below c17b44266a1f9fcb49b894d4611d1254bf1aa313 is affected.
- Version 5.19 is affected.
- Before 5.19 is unaffected.
- Version 6.18.59, <= 6.18.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.2.13, <= 7.2.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.3, <= * is unaffected.