# CVE-2022-49769: gfs2: Check sb_bsize_shift after reading superblock

> A missing validation of the block size shift field in the GFS2 filesystem allows attackers to cause a kernel crash or mount failure via crafted superblocks.

- **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:** 1 May 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49769, GHSA-22ff-fvm7-6wj7, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49769

## What is CVE-2022-49769?

CVE-2022-49769 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 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:

gfs2: Check sb_bsize_shift after reading superblock

Fuzzers like to scribble over sb_bsize_shift but in reality it's very
unlikely that this field would be corrupted on its own. Nevertheless it
should be checked to avoid the possibility of messy mount errors due to
bad calculations. It's always a fixed value based on the block size so
we can just check that it's the expected value.

Tested with:

    mkfs.gfs2 -O -p lock_nolock /dev/vdb
    for i in 0 -1 64 65 32 33; do
        gfs2_edit -p sb field sb_bsize_shift $i /dev/vdb
        mount /dev/vdb /mnt/test && umount /mnt/test
    done

Before this patch we get a withdraw after

[   76.413681] gfs2: fsid=loop0.0: fatal: invalid metadata block
[   76.413681]   bh = 19 (type: exp=5, found=4)
[   76.413681]   function = gfs2_meta_buffer, file = fs/gfs2/meta_io.c, line = 492

and with UBSAN configured we also get complaints like

[   76.373395] UBSAN: shift-out-of-bounds in fs/gfs2/ops_fstype.c:295:19
[   76.373815] shift exponent 4294967287 is too large for 64-bit type 'long unsigned int'

After the patch, these complaints don't appear, mount fails immediately
and we get an explanation in dmesg.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49769?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49769?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49769 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49769 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-2022-49769 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49769 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 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-2022-49769 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-2022-49769/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49769/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49769
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49769
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49769

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49769/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.