CVE-2024-39276: ext4: fix mb_cache_entry's e_refcnt leak in ext4_xattr_block_cache_find()

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-06-25 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix mb_cache_entry's e_refcnt leak in ext4_xattr_block_cache_find() Syzbot reports a warning as follows: ============================================ WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 5075 at fs/mbcache.c:419 mb_cache_destroy+0x224/0x290 Modules linked in: CPU: 0 PID: 5075 Comm: syz-executor199 Not tainted 6.9.0-rc6-gb947cc5bf6d7 RIP: 0010:mb_cache_destroy+0x224/0x290 fs/mbcache.c:419 Call Trace: <TASK> ext4_put_super+0x6d4/0xcd0 fs/ext4/super.c:1375 generic_shutdown_super+0x136/0x2d0 fs/super.c:641 kill_block_super+0x44/0x90 fs/super.c:1675 ext4_kill_sb+0x68/0xa0 fs/ext4/super.c:7327 [...] ============================================ This is because when finding an entry in ext4_xattr_block_cache_find(), if ext4_sb_bread() returns -ENOMEM, the ce's e_refcnt, which has already grown in the __entry_find(), won't be put away, and eventually trigger the above issue in mb_cache_destroy() due to reference count leakage. So call mb_cache_entry_put() on the -ENOMEM error branch as a quick fix.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 4.14.92 before 4.15; from 4.19.14 before 4.19.316; from 4.20.1 through 5.4.278; from 5.5 through 5.15.161; from 5.16 through 6.1.94; from 6.2 through 6.6.34 — fixed in 4.15, 4.19.316

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 4.15, 4.19.316. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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