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CVE-2026-92502

Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: clear stale xarray tags on folios skipped during writeback In data=journal mode, the writeback thread can hit the WARN_ON_ONCE(sb_rdonly(sb)) in ext4_journal_check_start() while the superblock is being remounted read-only during reboot: Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-253:0) RIP: 0010:ext4_journal_check_start+0x8b/0xd0 Call Trace: __ext4_journal_start_sb+0x3c/0x1e0 mpage_prepare_extent_to_map+0x4af/0x580 ext4_do_writepages+0x3c0/0x1080 ext4_writepages+0xc8/0x1a0 do_writepages+0xc4/0x180 __writeback_single_inode+0x45/0x2f0 writeback_sb_inodes+0x26b/0x5d0 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x54/0x100 wb_writeback+0x1ac/0x320 wb_workfn+0x394/0x470 And followed by the warning: EXT4-fs warning (device vda1): ext4_evict_inode:195: inode #6263: comm (sd-umount): data will be lost This issue is not reproduced every time, but frequently. The reproduction step is to create a VM with 8 CPUs, 16G memory and setup data=journal: sudo tune2fs -o journal_data /dev/vda1 Run fio: rm -f fiotest fio --name=fiotest --rw=randwrite --bs=4k --runtime=6 --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=256 --numjobs=8 --filename=fiotest --filesize=30G --group_reporting Reboot the VM, and check the console output from: virsh console testvm But there is no dirty inode, folio_clear_dirty_for_io clears PG_dirty but leaves tags PAGECACHE_TAG_DIRTY and PAGECACHE_TAG_TOWRITE set which are only cleared by __folio_start_writeback. In data=journal mode, jbd2 checkpoints the journalled data to its final location and clears its own dirty flag without touching folio PG_dirty or xarray dirty flags. The commit f4a2b42e7891 ("ext4: fix stale xarray tags after writeback") fixes when PG_dirty is still set but there is no dirty page. Another case is PG_dirty is cleared, but PAGECACHE_TAG_DIRTY and PAGECACHE_TAG_TOWRITE is still set. In this case, writeback thread checks clean folio and skips it in mpage_prepare_extent_to_map: if (!folio_test_dirty(folio) || ... folio_unlcok(folio); continue And never reaches ext4_bio_write_folio where the commit f4a2b42e7891 clears the stale xarray tags. Print debug logs after the filesystem is remounted read-only: writepages RDONLY nrpages=2048 dirtytag=1 wbtag=0 towrite=1 sync=0 And all folios are actually clean: folio idx=3 dirty=0 wb=0 checked=0 dirtybuf=0 jbddirty=0 mapped=1 ... We need to clear the xarray stale tags for such clean folios by cycling them through writeback in the skip path, the same way f4a2b42e7891 does in ext4_bio_write_folio.

Severity
Not scored
CVSS score
Not available
Vulnerability status
Received
Source identifier
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Published
2026-09-17 17:17:52.680000
Last modified
2026-10-19 10:16:50.393000
View original CVE JSON
{
  "id": "CVE-2026-92502",
  "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
  "published": "2026-09-17T17:17:52.680",
  "lastModified": "2026-10-19T10:16:50.393",
  "vulnStatus": "Received",
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\next4: clear stale xarray tags on folios skipped during writeback\n\nIn data=journal mode, the writeback thread can hit the\nWARN_ON_ONCE(sb_rdonly(sb)) in ext4_journal_check_start() while the\nsuperblock is being remounted read-only during reboot:\n\nWorkqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-253:0)\nRIP: 0010:ext4_journal_check_start+0x8b/0xd0\nCall Trace:\n  __ext4_journal_start_sb+0x3c/0x1e0\n  mpage_prepare_extent_to_map+0x4af/0x580\n  ext4_do_writepages+0x3c0/0x1080\n  ext4_writepages+0xc8/0x1a0\n  do_writepages+0xc4/0x180\n  __writeback_single_inode+0x45/0x2f0\n  writeback_sb_inodes+0x26b/0x5d0\n  __writeback_inodes_wb+0x54/0x100\n  wb_writeback+0x1ac/0x320\n  wb_workfn+0x394/0x470\n\nAnd followed by the warning:\nEXT4-fs warning (device vda1): ext4_evict_inode:195: inode #6263:\ncomm (sd-umount): data will be lost\n\nThis issue is not reproduced every time, but frequently.\nThe reproduction step is to create a VM with 8 CPUs, 16G memory and\nsetup data=journal:\nsudo tune2fs -o journal_data /dev/vda1\nRun fio:\nrm -f fiotest\nfio --name=fiotest --rw=randwrite --bs=4k --runtime=6 --ioengine=libaio\n--iodepth=256 --numjobs=8 --filename=fiotest --filesize=30G\n--group_reporting\nReboot the VM, and check the console output from:\nvirsh console testvm\n\nBut there is no dirty inode, folio_clear_dirty_for_io clears PG_dirty\nbut leaves tags PAGECACHE_TAG_DIRTY and PAGECACHE_TAG_TOWRITE set which\nare only cleared by __folio_start_writeback.\nIn data=journal mode, jbd2 checkpoints the journalled data to its final\nlocation and clears its own dirty flag without touching folio PG_dirty\nor xarray dirty flags.\nThe commit f4a2b42e7891 (\"ext4: fix stale xarray tags after writeback\")\nfixes when PG_dirty is still set but there is no dirty page.\nAnother case is PG_dirty is cleared, but PAGECACHE_TAG_DIRTY and\nPAGECACHE_TAG_TOWRITE is still set. In this case, writeback thread\nchecks clean folio and skips it in mpage_prepare_extent_to_map:\nif (!folio_test_dirty(folio) ||\n    ...\n        folio_unlcok(folio);\n\tcontinue\n\nAnd never reaches ext4_bio_write_folio where the commit f4a2b42e7891\nclears the stale xarray tags. Print debug logs after the filesystem\nis remounted read-only:\nwritepages RDONLY nrpages=2048 dirtytag=1 wbtag=0 towrite=1 sync=0\nAnd all folios are actually clean:\nfolio idx=3 dirty=0 wb=0 checked=0 dirtybuf=0 jbddirty=0 mapped=1\n...\n\nWe need to clear the xarray stale tags for such clean folios by\ncycling them through writeback in the skip path, the same way\nf4a2b42e7891 does in ext4_bio_write_folio."
    }
  ],
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "product": "Linux",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "programFiles": [
            "fs/ext4/inode.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "versions": [
            {
              "version": "dff4ac75eeeefc4397fe7cf8ce559425bf46b1f7",
              "lessThan": "f82a4929d0ef7ddf254c1c295ec1dfd24094f2de",
              "versionType": "git",
              "status": "affected"
            },
            {
              "version": "dff4ac75eeeefc4397fe7cf8ce559425bf46b1f7",
              "lessThan": "a450ab88bfd57b227d72c7a3faad54d16c3fc099",
              "versionType": "git",
              "status": "affected"
            },
            {
              "version": "dff4ac75eeeefc4397fe7cf8ce559425bf46b1f7",
              "lessThan": "aa0042630b1f7cab735b0a168539281198822586",
              "versionType": "git",
              "status": "affected"
            },
            {
              "version": "dff4ac75eeeefc4397fe7cf8ce559425bf46b1f7",
              "lessThan": "43ae387c3ae6a11227d096669ddf883e27a39a11",
              "versionType": "git",
              "status": "affected"
            },
            {
              "version": "dff4ac75eeeefc4397fe7cf8ce559425bf46b1f7",
              "lessThan": "ec524aae479b4b2078c47492b90ec21200bce434",
              "versionType": "git",
              "status": "affected"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "product": "Linux",
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "programFiles": [
            "fs/ext4/inode.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "versions": [
            {
              "version": "6.2",
              "status": "affected"
            },
            {
              "version": "0",
              "lessThan": "6.2",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "status": "unaffected"
            },
            {
              "version": "6.6.157",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.6.*",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "status": "unaffected"
            },
            {
              "version": "6.12.110",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "status": "unaffected"
            },
            {
              "version": "6.18.52",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "status": "unaffected"
            },
            {
              "version": "7.2.6",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "status": "unaffected"
            },
            {
              "version": "7.3",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix",
              "status": "unaffected"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "metrics": {},
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/43ae387c3ae6a11227d096669ddf883e27a39a11",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a450ab88bfd57b227d72c7a3faad54d16c3fc099",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa0042630b1f7cab735b0a168539281198822586",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ec524aae479b4b2078c47492b90ec21200bce434",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f82a4929d0ef7ddf254c1c295ec1dfd24094f2de",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    }
  ]
}