Linux Kernel up to 6.0 fs/ext4/extents.c ext4_ext_binsearch_idx privilege escalation

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.4.214/5.10.145/5.15.70/5.19.11/6.0. The impacted element is the function ext4_ext_binsearch_idx of the file fs/ext4/extents.c. The manipulation results in an unknown weakness. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2022-48631. There is not any exploit available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.4.214/5.10.145/5.15.70/5.19.11/6.0. Affected is the function ext4_ext_binsearch_idx of the file fs/ext4/extents.c. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix bug in extents parsing when eh_entries == 0 and eh_depth > 0 When walking through an inode extents, the ext4_ext_binsearch_idx() function assumes that the extent header has been previously validated. However, there are no checks that verify that the number of entries (eh->eh_entries) is non-zero when depth is > 0. And this will lead to problems because the EXT_FIRST_INDEX() and EXT_LAST_INDEX() will return garbage and result in this: [ 135.245946] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 135.247579] kernel BUG at fs/ext4/extents.c:2258! [ 135.249045] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP [ 135.250320] CPU: 2 PID: 238 Comm: tmp118 Not tainted 5.19.0-rc8+ #4 [ 135.252067] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.15.0-0-g2dd4b9b-rebuilt.opensuse.org 04/01/2014 [ 135.255065] RIP: 0010:ext4_ext_map_blocks+0xc20/0xcb0 [ 135.256475] Code: [ 135.261433] RSP: 0018:ffffc900005939f8 EFLAGS: 00010246 [ 135.262847] RAX: 0000000000000024 RBX: ffffc90000593b70 RCX: 0000000000000023 [ 135.264765] RDX: ffff8880038e5f10 RSI: 0000000000000003 RDI: ffff8880046e922c [ 135.266670] RBP: ffff8880046e9348 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: ffff888002ca580c [ 135.268576] R10: 0000000000002602 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: 0000000000000024 [ 135.270477] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000024 R15: 0000000000000000 [ 135.272394] FS: 00007fdabdc56740(0000) GS:ffff88807dd00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 135.274510] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 135.276075] CR2: 00007ffc26bd4f00 CR3: 0000000006261004 CR4: 0000000000170ea0 [ 135.277952] Call Trace: [ 135.278635] [ 135.279247] ? preempt_count_add+0x6d/0xa0 [ 135.280358] ? percpu_counter_add_batch+0x55/0xb0 [ 135.281612] ? _raw_read_unlock+0x18/0x30 [ 135.282704] ext4_map_blocks+0x294/0x5a0 [ 135.283745] ? xa_load+0x6f/0xa0 [ 135.284562] ext4_mpage_readpages+0x3d6/0x770 [ 135.285646] read_pages+0x67/0x1d0 [ 135.286492] ? folio_add_lru+0x51/0x80 [ 135.287441] page_cache_ra_unbounded+0x124/0x170 [ 135.288510] filemap_get_pages+0x23d/0x5a0 [ 135.289457] ? path_openat+0xa72/0xdd0 [ 135.290332] filemap_read+0xbf/0x300 [ 135.291158] ? _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x17/0x40 [ 135.292192] new_sync_read+0x103/0x170 [ 135.293014] vfs_read+0x15d/0x180 [ 135.293745] ksys_read+0xa1/0xe0 [ 135.294461] do_syscall_64+0x3c/0x80 [ 135.295284] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 This patch simply adds an extra check in __ext4_ext_check(), verifying that eh_entries is not 0 when eh_depth is > 0.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2022-48631 since 02/25/2024. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 276910 (SUSE SLES12 Security Update : kernel (SUSE-SU-2025:4189-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.4.215, 5.10.146, 5.15.71, 5.19.12 or 6.0 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch bb7eb3ca4b3b/958b0ee23f5a/be4df018c0be/2f5e9de15e4f/29a5b8a137ac is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (276910). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.4.214
• 5.10.145
• 5.15.0
• 5.15.1
• 5.15.2
• 5.15.3
• 5.15.4
• 5.15.5
• 5.15.6
• 5.15.7
• 5.15.8
• 5.15.9
• 5.15.10
• 5.15.11
• 5.15.12
• 5.15.13
• 5.15.14
• 5.15.15
• 5.15.16
• 5.15.17
• 5.15.18
• 5.15.19
• 5.15.20
• 5.15.21
• 5.15.22
• 5.15.23
• 5.15.24
• 5.15.25
• 5.15.26
• 5.15.27
• 5.15.28
• 5.15.29
• 5.15.30
• 5.15.31
• 5.15.32
• 5.15.33
• 5.15.34
• 5.15.35
• 5.15.36
• 5.15.37
• 5.15.38
• 5.15.39
• 5.15.40
• 5.15.41
• 5.15.42
• 5.15.43
• 5.15.44
• 5.15.45
• 5.15.46
• 5.15.47
• 5.15.48
• 5.15.49
• 5.15.50
• 5.15.51
• 5.15.52
• 5.15.53
• 5.15.54
• 5.15.55
• 5.15.56
• 5.15.57
• 5.15.58
• 5.15.59
• 5.15.60
• 5.15.61
• 5.15.62
• 5.15.63
• 5.15.64
• 5.15.65
• 5.15.66
• 5.15.67
• 5.15.68
• 5.15.69
• 5.15.70
• 5.19.0
• 5.19.1
• 5.19.2
• 5.19.3
• 5.19.4
• 5.19.5
• 5.19.6
• 5.19.7
• 5.19.8
• 5.19.9
• 5.19.10
• 5.19.11
• 6.0

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Discussion