Vulnerability Database

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CVE-2026-31450 — linux / linux_kernel

NULL Pointer Dereference

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ext4: publish jinode after initialization

ext4_inode_attach_jinode() publishes ei->jinode to concurrent users. It used to set ei->jinode before jbd2_journal_init_jbd_inode(), allowing a reader to observe a non-NULL jinode with i_vfs_inode still unset.

The fast commit flush path can then pass this jinode to jbd2_wait_inode_data(), which dereferences i_vfs_inode->i_mapping and may crash.

Below is the crash I observe:

BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 000000010beb47f4 PGD 110e51067 P4D 110e51067 PUD 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 4850 Comm: fc_fsync_bench_ Not tainted 6.18.0-00764-g795a690c06a5 #1 PREEMPT(voluntary) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS Arch Linux 1.17.0-2-2 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:xas_find_marked+0x3d/0x2e0 Code: e0 03 48 83 f8 02 0f 84 f0 01 00 00 48 8b 47 08 48 89 c3 48 39 c6 0f 82 fd 01 00 00 48 85 c9 74 3d 48 83 f9 03 77 63 4c 8b 0f <49> 8b 71 08 48 c7 47 18 00 00 00 00 48 89 f1 83 e1 03 48 83 f9 02 RSP: 0018:ffffbbee806e7bf0 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 000000000010beb4 RBX: 000000000010beb4 RCX: 0000000000000003 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000002000300000 RDI: ffffbbee806e7c10 RBP: 0000000000000001 R08: 0000002000300000 R09: 000000010beb47ec R10: ffff9ea494590090 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000002000300000 R13: ffffbbee806e7c90 R14: ffff9ea494513788 R15: ffffbbee806e7c88 FS: 00007fc2f9e3e6c0(0000) GS:ffff9ea6b1444000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 000000010beb47f4 CR3: 0000000119ac5000 CR4: 0000000000750ef0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> filemap_get_folios_tag+0x87/0x2a0 __filemap_fdatawait_range+0x5f/0xd0 ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 ? __schedule+0x3e7/0x10c0 ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 ? preempt_count_sub+0x5f/0x80 ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 ? cap_safe_nice+0x37/0x70 ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 ? preempt_count_sub+0x5f/0x80 ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 filemap_fdatawait_range_keep_errors+0x12/0x40 ext4_fc_commit+0x697/0x8b0 ? ext4_file_write_iter+0x64b/0x950 ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 ? preempt_count_sub+0x5f/0x80 ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 ? vfs_write+0x356/0x480 ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 ? preempt_count_sub+0x5f/0x80 ext4_sync_file+0xf7/0x370 do_fsync+0x3b/0x80 ? syscall_trace_enter+0x108/0x1d0 __x64_sys_fdatasync+0x16/0x20 do_syscall_64+0x62/0x2c0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e ...

Fix this by initializing the jbd2_inode first. Use smp_wmb() and WRITE_ONCE() to publish ei->jinode after initialization. Readers use READ_ONCE() to fetch the pointer.

  • Published: Apr 22, 2026
  • Updated: Apr 28, 2026
  • CVE: CVE-2026-31450
  • Severity: High
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: High
  • Score: 8.8
  • AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWEs:

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