# CVE-2022-50277: ext4: don't allow journal inode to have encrypt flag

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash by mounting a crafted ext4 filesystem with the inlinecrypt option, 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:** 15 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50277, GHSA-5935-5rv9-4v2p, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50277

## What is CVE-2022-50277?

CVE-2022-50277 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 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: don't allow journal inode to have encrypt flag

Mounting a filesystem whose journal inode has the encrypt flag causes a
NULL dereference in fscrypt_limit_io_blocks() when the 'inlinecrypt'
mount option is used.

The problem is that when jbd2_journal_init_inode() calls bmap(), it
eventually finds its way into ext4_iomap_begin(), which calls
fscrypt_limit_io_blocks().  fscrypt_limit_io_blocks() requires that if
the inode is encrypted, then its encryption key must already be set up.
That's not the case here, since the journal inode is never "opened" like
a normal file would be.  Hence the crash.

A reproducer is:

    mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/vdb
    debugfs -w /dev/vdb -R "set_inode_field <8> flags 0x80808"
    mount /dev/vdb /mnt -o inlinecrypt

To fix this, make ext4 consider journal inodes with the encrypt flag to
be invalid.  (Note, maybe other flags should be rejected on the journal
inode too.  For now, this is just the minimal fix for the above issue.)

I've marked this as fixing the commit that introduced the call to
fscrypt_limit_io_blocks(), since that's what made an actual crash start
being possible.  But this fix could be applied to any version of ext4
that supports the encrypt feature.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50277?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-50277?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50277 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50277 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-2022-50277 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50277 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 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-2022-50277 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-2022-50277/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50277/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50277
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50277
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50277

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50277/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.