Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-49409

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-02-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.3 / 3.5 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix bug_on in __es_tree_search Hulk Robot reported a BUG_ON: ================================================================== kernel BUG at fs/ext4/extents_status.c:199! [...] RIP: 0010:ext4_es_end fs/ext4/extents_status.c:199 [inline] RIP: 0010:__es_tree_search+0x1e0/0x260 fs/ext4/extents_status.c:217 [...] Call Trace: ext4_es_cache_extent+0x109/0x340 fs/ext4/extents_status.c:766 ext4_cache_extents+0x239/0x2e0 fs/ext4/extents.c:561 ext4_find_extent+0x6b7/0xa20 fs/ext4/extents.c:964 ext4_ext_map_blocks+0x16b/0x4b70 fs/ext4/extents.c:4384 ext4_map_blocks+0xe26/0x19f0 fs/ext4/inode.c:567 ext4_getblk+0x320/0x4c0 fs/ext4/inode.c:980 ext4_bread+0x2d/0x170 fs/ext4/inode.c:1031 ext4_quota_read+0x248/0x320 fs/ext4/super.c:6257 v2_read_header+0x78/0x110 fs/quota/quota_v2.c:63 v2_check_quota_file+0x76/0x230 fs/quota/quota_v2.c:82 vfs_load_quota_inode+0x5d1/0x1530 fs/quota/dquot.c:2368 dquot_enable+0x28a/0x330 fs/quota/dquot.c:2490 ext4_quota_enable fs/ext4/super.c:6137 [inline] ext4_enable_quotas+0x5d7/0x960 fs/ext4/super.c:6163 ext4_fill_super+0xa7c9/0xdc00 fs/ext4/super.c:4754 mount_bdev+0x2e9/0x3b0 fs/super.c:1158 mount_fs+0x4b/0x1e4 fs/super.c:1261 [...] ================================================================== Above issue may happen as follows: ------------------------------------- ext4_fill_super ext4_enable_quotas ext4_quota_enable ext4_iget __ext4_iget ext4_ext_check_inode ext4_ext_check __ext4_ext_check ext4_valid_extent_entries Check for overlapping extents does't take effect dquot_enable vfs_load_quota_inode v2_check_quota_file v2_read_header ext4_quota_read ext4_bread ext4_getblk ext4_map_blocks ext4_ext_map_blocks ext4_find_extent ext4_cache_extents ext4_es_cache_extent ext4_es_cache_extent __es_tree_search ext4_es_end BUG_ON(es->es_lblk + es->es_len < es->es_lblk) The error ext4 extents is as follows: 0af3 0300 0400 0000 00000000 extent_header 00000000 0100 0000 12000000 extent1 00000000 0100 0000 18000000 extent2 02000000 0400 0000 14000000 extent3 In the ext4_valid_extent_entries function, if prev is 0, no error is returned even if lblock<=prev. This was intended to skip the check on the first extent, but in the error image above, prev=0+1-1=0 when checking the second extent, so even though lblock<=prev, the function does not return an error. As a result, bug_ON occurs in __es_tree_search and the system panics. To solve this problem, we only need to check that: 1. The lblock of the first extent is not less than 0. 2. The lblock of the next extent is not less than the next block of the previous extent. The same applies to extent_idx.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-617

Attacker-controllable input can reach an assertion that aborts the process when it fails, so a check meant for debugging becomes a denial-of-service in production. A single crafted request takes the service down. The fix is to handle unexpected input gracefully on reachable paths rather than asserting on it.

General guidance for the reachable assertion class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 3.2.55, < 3.3>= 3.4.76, < 3.5>= 3.10.26, < 3.11>= 3.12.7, < 3.13>= 3.13.1, < 5.4.277>= 5.5, < 5.10.121>= 5.11, < 5.15.46>= 5.16, < 5.17.14>= 5.18, < 5.18.3= 3.13

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.3 / 3.5 / 3.11 or later
Fixed in 3.33.53.11
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel version 3.3 or later (for 3.2.x), 3.5 or later (for 3.4.x), 3.11 or later (for 3.10.x), or 3.13 or later (for 3.12.x). For production systems, prefer the latest stable kernel available (e.g., 6.x series)

  1. 1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. 2. Check if the running kernel version falls within any of the affected ranges: >= 3.2.55 and < 3.3, >= 3.4.76 and < 3.5, >= 3.10.26 and < 3.11, or >= 3.12.7 and < 3.13
  3. 3. If affected, schedule a maintenance window for kernel upgrade
  4. 4. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed version. For each affected branch, the minimum fixed versions are: 3.3, 3.5, 3.11, or 3.13 respectively
  5. 5. After upgrade, reboot the system to load the new kernel
  6. 6. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the ext4_valid_extent_entries function has the corrected logic for extent validation
Caveat Older kernel branches (3.2, 3.4, 3.10, 3.12) are no longer maintained. Upgrading to a newer major version may require updating userspace tools and verifying application compatibility. Consider migrating to a maintained LTS branch like 5.15 or 6.1

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-49409 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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