Kernel panic via skipped ext4 overlap validation
Published Feb 26, 2025 · Updated May 23, 2026
Reachable assertion in the Linux kernel ext4 implementation allows local users to panic the system through a malformed filesystem image. The ext4_valid_extent_entries function skips the overlap check when the previous extent ends at logical block zero, allowing overlapping extent metadata to reach __es_tree_search and trigger its BUG_ON assertion. The failure requires local access and an affected ext4 filesystem with quotas enabled; the bounded result is loss of availability through a kernel panic.
Summary
What happened
Reachable assertion in the Linux kernel ext4 implementation allows local users to panic the system through a malformed filesystem image. The ext4_valid_extent_entries function skips the overlap check when the previous extent ends at logical block zero, allowing overlapping extent metadata to reach __es_tree_search and trigger its BUG_ON assertion. The failure requires local access and an affected ext4 filesystem with quotas enabled; the bounded result is loss of availability through a kernel panic.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-49409
- Published
- Feb 26, 2025
- Updated
- May 23, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-617, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 26, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 23, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=3.10.26 <3.11
- Affected versionversion=3.12.7 <3.13
- Affected versionversion=3.13
- Affected versionversion=3.2.55 <3.3
- Affected versionversion=3.4.76 <3.5
- Affected versionversion=4645e4ee32aee01a85bdc03348982a65c65ce216
- Affected versionversion=5946d089379a35dda0e531710b48fca05446a196 <3c617827cd51018bc377bd2954e176920ddbcfad
- Affected versionversion=5946d089379a35dda0e531710b48fca05446a196 <4fd58b5cf118d2d9038a0b8c9cc0e43096297686
- Affected versionversion=5946d089379a35dda0e531710b48fca05446a196 <59cf2fabbfe76de29d88dd7ae69858a25735b59f
- Affected versionversion=5946d089379a35dda0e531710b48fca05446a196 <d0083459e2b6b07ebd78bea2fe684a19cc0f3d0f
- Affected versionversion=5946d089379a35dda0e531710b48fca05446a196 <d36f6ed761b53933b0b4126486c10d3da7751e7f
- Affected versionversion=5946d089379a35dda0e531710b48fca05446a196 <ea6ea18b3ab0c0d7fefffb3c4d27df758b1c790a
- Affected versionversion=a1192c0e5d037def6763f3873d3340615c241fe7
- Affected versionversion=ae21dda05193c441bde106a4bbf88c185a68fbed
- Affected versionversion=ea214c946ee77588c4313be3e9951edd25d6b270
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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