BaseFortify

Publication date: 2025-10-01

Last updated on: 2025-10-02

Assigner: kernel.org

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: don't set up encryption key during jbd2 transaction Commit a80f7fcf1867 ("ext4: fixup ext4_fc_track_* functions' signature") extended the scope of the transaction in ext4_unlink() too far, making it include the call to ext4_find_entry(). However, ext4_find_entry() can deadlock when called from within a transaction because it may need to set up the directory's encryption key. Fix this by restoring the transaction to its original scope.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2025-10-01

Last Modified

2025-10-02

Generated

2026-07-06

AI Q&A

2025-10-01

EPSS Evaluated

2026-07-05

NVD

CVE-2022-50436

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
linux	linux_kernel	From 5.15.160 (inc) to 5.16 (inc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability involves the Linux kernel's ext4 filesystem where a recent code change extended the scope of a transaction in the ext4_unlink() function too far, causing it to include a call to ext4_find_entry(). Since ext4_find_entry() may need to set up the directory's encryption key, calling it within the transaction can lead to a deadlock. The fix restores the transaction scope to its original boundaries to prevent this deadlock.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can cause a deadlock in the Linux kernel's ext4 filesystem when unlinking files, potentially leading to system hangs or degraded performance due to the deadlock during directory encryption key setup within a transaction.

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