Linux Kernel up to 6.18.51/7.2.5 ext4 ext4_write_inline_data_end fsdata null pointer dereference

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
9.5	$0-$5k	0.77

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.51/7.2.5. The impacted element is the function ext4_write_inline_data_end of the component ext4. Executing a manipulation of the argument fsdata can lead to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-92500. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.51/7.2.5. It has been declared as very critical. This vulnerability affects the function ext4_write_inline_data_end of the component ext4. The manipulation of the argument fsdata with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: use fsdata to track inline data write state and fix race Instead of checking the live inode state (ext4_has_inline_data(inode) and ext4_test_inode_state(inode, EXT4_STATE_MAY_INLINE_DATA)) in the write_end handlers, use the fsdata parameter of the address space operations to explicitly pass down the state in which write_begin prepared the write. A concurrent thread (such as ext4_page_mkwrite()) can convert the inline data to an extent between write_begin and write_end. If this happens, the write_end handlers would previously miss the inline write_end path and fall through to extent-based write_end logic. However, since block buffers were never allocated in write_begin, this resulted in NULL pointer dereferences or data loss because folio_buffers(folio) was NULL. Define EXT4_WRITE_DATA_INLINE (4) as a bit flag (Bit 2), treating fsdata as bitwise flags rather than mutually exclusive enums to keep states of the write path independent. Communicate this state via fsdata: 1) ext4_write_begin() and ext4_da_write_begin() set the EXT4_WRITE_DATA_INLINE bit in *fsdata via bitwise OR when an inline write is successfully prepared. 2) On entry, ext4_write_begin() clears the EXT4_WRITE_DATA_INLINE bit to safely handle VFS retries (where generic_perform_write() bypasses the fsdata initialization on its retry jump). 3) The write_end handlers perform a bitwise AND to check if the EXT4_WRITE_DATA_INLINE bit is set and invoke the inline write_end helper accordingly. Furthermore, during a buffered write, ext4_write_inline_data_end() acquires the xattr lock after preparing the write. If a concurrent page fault (ext4_page_mkwrite()) converts the inline data to an extent after the write_end handlers check the state but before ext4_write_inline_data_end() acquires the xattr write lock, the subsequent check will trigger a kernel panic via BUG_ON(!ext4_has_inline_data(inode)). To keep git history working and bisectability clean, replace the BUG_ON check in ext4_write_inline_data_end() with a graceful error- handling retry path in this same commit. If the inline data is cleared after locking the xattr, we safely release all resources (releasing iloc.bh, unlocking/putting the folio, stopping the active journal transaction handle) and return 0 (VFS retry) to let the generic write path retry the operation safely.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-92500 since 09/16/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be initiated remotely. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 09/17/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.18.52, 7.2.6 or 7.3-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch bd8d74bd46d09905164255b8635fa58b45f41068/439aedfd7ae868d1d7b4930afe66091cb979cd5c/7edbb323bab2b2a609016014caafdb651c898249 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Null pointer dereference
CWE: CWE-476 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc1
Patch: bd8d74bd46d09905164255b8635fa58b45f41068/439aedfd7ae868d1d7b4930afe66091cb979cd5c/7edbb323bab2b2a609016014caafdb651c898249

Timelineinfo

09/16/2026 CVE reserved
09/17/2026 +1 days Advisory disclosed
09/17/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
09/17/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-92500 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-92500
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-406996

Entryinfo

Created: 09/17/2026 22:28
Changes: 09/17/2026 22:28 (60)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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Discussion

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