CVE-2022-50845

ext4: fix inode leak in ext4_xattr_inode_create() on an error path

published December 30, 2025

CVSS
—
EPSS
0%
Percentile
15.5
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

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

ext4: fix inode leak in ext4_xattr_inode_create() on an error path

There is issue as follows when do setxattr with inject fault:

[localhost]# fsck.ext4 -fn /dev/sda

e2fsck 1.46.6-rc1 (12-Sep-2022)

Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes

Pass 2: Checking directory structure

Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity

Pass 4: Checking reference counts

Unattached zero-length inode 15. Clear? no

Unattached inode 15

Connect to /lost+found? no

Pass 5: Checking group summary information

/dev/sda: ********** WARNING: Filesystem still has errors **********

/dev/sda: 15/655360 files (0.0% non-contiguous), 66755/2621440 blocks

This occurs in 'ext4_xattr_inode_create()'. If 'ext4_mark_inode_dirty()'

fails, dropping i_nlink of the inode is needed. Or will lead to inode leak.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS
Not scored
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00251 · 15.5th percentile
Published
2025-12-30T12:11Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 30 DEC 12:11Z
    ext4: fix inode leak in ext4_xattr_inode_create() on an error path
    cvelistv5