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CVE-2026-92494: ext4: fix buffer_head leak in ext4_init_orphan_info

• Severity: unknown
• 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: 2026-09-17 · updated 2026-10-19

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix buffer_head leak in ext4_init_orphan_info ext4_init_orphan_info() reads orphan file blocks with ext4_bread() and stores the returned buffer_head in oi->of_binfo[i].ob_bh. If ext4_bread() succeeds but the orphan block magic or checksum validation fails, the function jumps to out_free. However, the old out_free loop starts releasing buffers from i - 1, so the current buffer_head at index i is skipped. This leaks the buffer_head reference obtained by ext4_bread() on the bad magic and bad checksum error paths. Fix this by tracking the number of successfully read buffer_heads and releasing exactly those buffer_heads on the error path.

Affected products

• Linux kernel: 5.15 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/05704335803b69c1bfa8637b7ada942bf2ee8a41
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1399f102d8a1855c1a38506057306ec79d0787d9
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/35fc83c65faf7949f5701bb34b20f822560a7718
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6ec53ccab0d691b3c73e03d930343ca45987e88d
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/74637f7fef030e5fb2e835b7dfeb05efdc48e0fe
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9a6ec1298f9bc134b2c5db27d25bb10603b7113
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e1e342d9a561c016b8531ec1f4dcefaad9d64954

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