# CVE-2022-49707: ext4: add reserved GDT blocks check

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash by resizing a corrupted ext4 filesystem with specific feature flags, leading to denial of service.

- **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-2022-49707, GHSA-gcmg-mgh2-gvc3, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49707

## What is CVE-2022-49707?

CVE-2022-49707 is a medium-severity 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: add reserved GDT blocks check

We capture a NULL pointer issue when resizing a corrupt ext4 image which
is freshly clear resize_inode feature (not run e2fsck). It could be
simply reproduced by following steps. The problem is because of the
resize_inode feature was cleared, and it will convert the filesystem to
meta_bg mode in ext4_resize_fs(), but the es->s_reserved_gdt_blocks was
not reduced to zero, so could we mistakenly call reserve_backup_gdb()
and passing an uninitialized resize_inode to it when adding new group
descriptors.

 mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda 3G
 tune2fs -O ^resize_inode /dev/sda #forget to run requested e2fsck
 mount /dev/sda /mnt
 resize2fs /dev/sda 8G

 ========
 BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000028
 CPU: 19 PID: 3243 Comm: resize2fs Not tainted 5.18.0-rc7-00001-gfde086c5ebfd #748
 ...
 RIP: 0010:ext4_flex_group_add+0xe08/0x2570
 ...
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  ext4_resize_fs+0xbec/0x1660
  __ext4_ioctl+0x1749/0x24e0
  ext4_ioctl+0x12/0x20
  __x64_sys_ioctl+0xa6/0x110
  do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
 RIP: 0033:0x7f2dd739617b
 ========

The fix is simple, add a check in ext4_resize_begin() to make sure that
the es->s_reserved_gdt_blocks is zero when the resize_inode feature is
disabled.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49707?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49707?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49707 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49707 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-2022-49707 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49707 is a medium-severity 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-2022-49707 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-2022-49707/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49707/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49707
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49707
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49707

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49707/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.