CVE-2025-22113: ext4: avoid journaling sb update on error if journal is destroying

Description

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

ext4: avoid journaling sb update on error if journal is destroying

Presently we always BUG_ON if trying to start a transaction on a journal marked
with JBD2_UNMOUNT, since this should never happen. However, while ltp running
stress tests, it was observed that in case of some error handling paths, it is
possible for update_super_work to start a transaction after the journal is
destroyed eg:

(umount)
ext4_kill_sb
kill_block_super
generic_shutdown_super
sync_filesystem /* commits all txns */
evict_inodes
/* might start a new txn */
ext4_put_super
flush_work(&sbi->s_sb_upd_work) /* flush the workqueue */
jbd2_journal_destroy
journal_kill_thread
journal->j_flags |= JBD2_UNMOUNT;
jbd2_journal_commit_transaction
jbd2_journal_get_descriptor_buffer
jbd2_journal_bmap
ext4_journal_bmap
ext4_map_blocks
...
ext4_inode_error
ext4_handle_error
schedule_work(&sbi->s_sb_upd_work)

/* work queue kicks in */
update_super_work
jbd2_journal_start
start_this_handle
BU...

Classification

CVE ID: CVE-2025-22113

Affected Products

Vendor: Linux

Product: Linux, Linux

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

EPSS Score: 0.02% (probability of being exploited)

EPSS Percentile: 3.26% (scored less or equal to compared to others)

EPSS Date: 2025-04-20 (when was this score calculated)

References

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-22113
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/db05767b5bc307143d99fe2afd8c43af58d2ebef
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ce2f26e73783b4a7c46a86e3af5b5c8de0971790

Timeline