Filesystem hang via mount-time EA-inode lock cycle
Published Sep 24, 2026 · Updated Sep 24, 2026
Deadlock in the ext4 filesystem in Linux allows local users to hang filesystem activity by mounting a crafted filesystem image. During mount-time orphan cleanup, extra-isize expansion releases an EA inode synchronously while holding an active jbd2 handle and xattr_sem, causing write_inode_now() to reacquire s_writepages_rwsem in a circular lock chain. Reaching the path requires permission to mount an ext4 image containing the relevant orphaned inode or EA-inode state; no network or unprivileged trigger is reported.
Summary
What happened
Deadlock in the ext4 filesystem in Linux allows local users to hang filesystem activity by mounting a crafted filesystem image. During mount-time orphan cleanup, extra-isize expansion releases an EA inode synchronously while holding an active jbd2 handle and xattr_sem, causing write_inode_now() to reacquire s_writepages_rwsem in a circular lock chain. Reaching the path requires permission to mount an ext4 image containing the relevant orphaned inode or EA-inode state; no network or unprivileged trigger is reported.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-93268
- Published
- Sep 24, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 24, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 24, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 24, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.7
- Affected versionversion=c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f <1dd4882dbdc8bfdf2182fa388883c143fac0902a
- Affected versionversion=c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f <2fb8ff81659a57c42bb7b49e8339a2be2a318ef8
- Affected versionversion=c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f <41897f1bcf4ace5f1f28d0be784b6f4f0e929641
- Affected versionversion=c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f <7461c60b9c6a839b13ad4c3490681a0cf5aa0637
- Affected versionversion=c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f <7ace189b9ea79cf78df9c32b940ce12735f9459a
- Affected versionversion=c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f <7ba09330d9ea6e996228316719eae812d7e04983
- Affected versionversion=c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f <9c3469377b1d8caba6bec6ef3c460810bbfb02cc
- Affected versionversion=c8585c6fcaf2011de54c3592e80a634a2b9e1a7f <c5e6434cc55f30220b228be237bb666351f9f4dd
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
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.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- syzbot C reproducer for the ext4 mount-time deadlockproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Get started to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Get started