# CVE-2022-49880: ext4: fix warning in 'ext4_da_release_space'

> A flaw in the Linux kernel ext4 filesystem can trigger a warning and potential system instability during block release 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:** 1 May 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49880, GHSA-6qgr-97mx-84hr, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49880

## What is CVE-2022-49880?

CVE-2022-49880 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

ext4: fix warning in 'ext4_da_release_space'

Syzkaller report issue as follows:
EXT4-fs (loop0): Free/Dirty block details
EXT4-fs (loop0): free_blocks=0
EXT4-fs (loop0): dirty_blocks=0
EXT4-fs (loop0): Block reservation details
EXT4-fs (loop0): i_reserved_data_blocks=0
EXT4-fs warning (device loop0): ext4_da_release_space:1527: ext4_da_release_space: ino 18, to_free 1 with only 0 reserved data blocks
------------[ cut here ]------------
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 92 at fs/ext4/inode.c:1528 ext4_da_release_space+0x25e/0x370 fs/ext4/inode.c:1524
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 PID: 92 Comm: kworker/u4:4 Not tainted 6.0.0-syzkaller-09423-g493ffd6605b2 #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 09/22/2022
Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-7:0)
RIP: 0010:ext4_da_release_space+0x25e/0x370 fs/ext4/inode.c:1528
RSP: 0018:ffffc900015f6c90 EFLAGS: 00010296
RAX: 42215896cd52ea00 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 42215896cd52ea00
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000080000001 RDI: 0000000000000000
RBP: 1ffff1100e907d96 R08: ffffffff816aa79d R09: fffff520002bece5
R10: fffff520002bece5 R11: 1ffff920002bece4 R12: ffff888021fd2000
R13: ffff88807483ecb0 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: ffff88807483e740
FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880b9a00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00005555569ba628 CR3: 000000000c88e000 CR4: 00000000003506f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 ext4_es_remove_extent+0x1ab/0x260 fs/ext4/extents_status.c:1461
 mpage_release_unused_pages+0x24d/0xef0 fs/ext4/inode.c:1589
 ext4_writepages+0x12eb/0x3be0 fs/ext4/inode.c:2852
 do_writepages+0x3c3/0x680 mm/page-writeback.c:2469
 __writeback_single_inode+0xd1/0x670 fs/fs-writeback.c:1587
 writeback_sb_inodes+0xb3b/0x18f0 fs/fs-writeback.c:1870
 wb_writeback+0x41f/0x7b0 fs/fs-writeback.c:2044
 wb_do_writeback fs/fs-writeback.c:2187 [inline]
 wb_workfn+0x3cb/0xef0 fs/fs-writeback.c:2227
 process_one_work+0x877/0xdb0 kernel/workqueue.c:2289
 worker_thread+0xb14/0x1330 kernel/workqueue.c:2436
 kthread+0x266/0x300 kernel/kthread.c:376
 ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:306
 </TASK>

Above issue may happens as follows:
ext4_da_write_begin
  ext4_create_inline_data
    ext4_clear_inode_flag(inode, EXT4_INODE_EXTENTS);
    ext4_set_inode_flag(inode, EXT4_INODE_INLINE_DATA);
__ext4_ioctl
  ext4_ext_migrate -> will lead to eh->eh_entries not zero, and set extent flag
ext4_da_write_begin
  ext4_da_convert_inline_data_to_extent
    ext4_da_write_inline_data_begin
      ext4_da_map_blocks
        ext4_insert_delayed_block
	  if (!ext4_es_scan_clu(inode, &ext4_es_is_delonly, lblk))
	    if (!ext4_es_scan_clu(inode, &ext4_es_is_mapped, lblk))
	      ext4_clu_mapped(inode, EXT4_B2C(sbi, lblk)); -> will return 1
	       allocated = true;
          ext4_es_insert_delayed_block(inode, lblk, allocated);
ext4_writepages
  mpage_map_and_submit_extent(handle, &mpd, &give_up_on_write); -> return -ENOSPC
  mpage_release_unused_pages(&mpd, give_up_on_write); -> give_up_on_write == 1
    ext4_es_remove_extent
      ext4_da_release_space(inode, reserved);
        if (unlikely(to_free > ei->i_reserved_data_blocks))
	  -> to_free == 1  but ei->i_reserved_data_blocks == 0
	  -> then trigger warning as above

To solve above issue, forbid inode do migrate which has inline data.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49880?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49880?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49880 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49880 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-2022-49880 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49880 is a medium-severity denial of service 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-2022-49880 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-2022-49880/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49880/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49880
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49880
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49880

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49880/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.