# CVE-2022-49352: ext4: fix warning in ext4_handle_inode_extension

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel warning and potential denial of service in the ext4 filesystem by manipulating inode sizes during write operations.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 26 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49352, GHSA-qq62-42pv-vwvh, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49352

## What is CVE-2022-49352?

CVE-2022-49352 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 26 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

ext4: fix warning in ext4_handle_inode_extension

We got issue as follows:
EXT4-fs error (device loop0) in ext4_reserve_inode_write:5741: Out of memory
EXT4-fs error (device loop0): ext4_setattr:5462: inode #13: comm syz-executor.0: mark_inode_dirty error
EXT4-fs error (device loop0) in ext4_setattr:5519: Out of memory
EXT4-fs error (device loop0): ext4_ind_map_blocks:595: inode #13: comm syz-executor.0: Can't allocate blocks for non-extent mapped inodes with bigalloc
------------[ cut here ]------------
WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 4361 at fs/ext4/file.c:301 ext4_file_write_iter+0x11c9/0x1220
Modules linked in:
CPU: 1 PID: 4361 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 5.10.0+ #1
RIP: 0010:ext4_file_write_iter+0x11c9/0x1220
RSP: 0018:ffff924d80b27c00 EFLAGS: 00010282
RAX: ffffffff815a3379 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 000000003b000000
RDX: ffff924d81601000 RSI: 00000000000009cc RDI: 00000000000009cd
RBP: 000000000000000d R08: ffffffffbc5a2c6b R09: 0000902e0e52a96f
R10: ffff902e2b7c1b40 R11: ffff902e2b7c1b40 R12: 000000000000000a
R13: 0000000000000001 R14: ffff902e0e52aa10 R15: ffffffffffffff8b
FS:  00007f81a7f65700(0000) GS:ffff902e3bc80000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: ffffffffff600400 CR3: 000000012db88001 CR4: 00000000003706e0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
 do_iter_readv_writev+0x2e5/0x360
 do_iter_write+0x112/0x4c0
 do_pwritev+0x1e5/0x390
 __x64_sys_pwritev2+0x7e/0xa0
 do_syscall_64+0x37/0x50
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xa9

Above issue may happen as follows:
Assume
inode.i_size=4096
EXT4_I(inode)->i_disksize=4096

step 1: set inode->i_isize = 8192
ext4_setattr
  if (attr->ia_size != inode->i_size)
    EXT4_I(inode)->i_disksize = attr->ia_size;
    rc = ext4_mark_inode_dirty
       ext4_reserve_inode_write
          ext4_get_inode_loc
            __ext4_get_inode_loc
              sb_getblk --> return -ENOMEM
   ...
   if (!error)  ->will not update i_size
     i_size_write(inode, attr->ia_size);
Now:
inode.i_size=4096
EXT4_I(inode)->i_disksize=8192

step 2: Direct write 4096 bytes
ext4_file_write_iter
 ext4_dio_write_iter
   iomap_dio_rw ->return error
 if (extend)
   ext4_handle_inode_extension
     WARN_ON_ONCE(i_size_read(inode) < EXT4_I(inode)->i_disksize);
->Then trigger warning.

To solve above issue, if mark inode dirty failed in ext4_setattr just
set 'EXT4_I(inode)->i_disksize' with old value.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49352?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49352?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49352 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49352 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-49352 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49352 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 26 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49352 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49352/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49352/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49352
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49352
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49352

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49352/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.