CVE-2022-50534 dm thin: Use last transaction's pmd->root when commit failed
A flaw in the Linux kernel's dm thin driver causes a softlockup and kernel panic when metadata commit fails, leading to denial of service.
- 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
What is CVE-2022-50534?
CVE-2022-50534 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 Oct 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:
dm thin: Use last transaction's pmd->root when commit failed
Recently we found a softlock up problem in dm thin pool btree lookup code due to corrupted metadata:
Kernel panic - not syncing: softlockup: hung tasks CPU: 7 PID: 2669225 Comm: kworker/u16:3 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996) Workqueue: dm-thin do_worker [dm_thin_pool] Call Trace: <IRQ> dump_stack+0x9c/0xd3 panic+0x35d/0x6b9 watchdog_timer_fn.cold+0x16/0x25 __run_hrtimer+0xa2/0x2d0 </IRQ> RIP: 0010:__relink_lru+0x102/0x220 [dm_bufio] __bufio_new+0x11f/0x4f0 [dm_bufio] new_read+0xa3/0x1e0 [dm_bufio] dm_bm_read_lock+0x33/0xd0 [dm_persistent_data] ro_step+0x63/0x100 [dm_persistent_data] btree_lookup_raw.constprop.0+0x44/0x220 [dm_persistent_data] dm_btree_lookup+0x16f/0x210 [dm_persistent_data] dm_thin_find_block+0x12c/0x210 [dm_thin_pool] __process_bio_read_only+0xc5/0x400 [dm_thin_pool] process_thin_deferred_bios+0x1a4/0x4a0 [dm_thin_pool] process_one_work+0x3c5/0x730
Following process may generate a broken btree mixed with fresh and stale btree nodes, which could get dm thin trapped in an infinite loop while looking up data block: Transaction 1: pmd->root = A, A->B->C // One path in btree pmd->root = X, X->Y->Z // Copy-up Transaction 2: X,Z is updated on disk, Y write failed. // Commit failed, dm thin becomes read-only. process_bio_read_only dm_thin_find_block __find_block dm_btree_lookup(pmd->root) The pmd->root points to a broken btree, Y may contain stale node pointing to any block, for example X, which gets dm thin trapped into a dead loop while looking up Z.
Fix this by setting pmd->root in __open_metadata(), so that dm thin will use the last transaction's pmd->root if commit failed.
Fetch a reproducer in [Link].
Linke: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=216790
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50534?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2022-50534?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2022-50534 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50534 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50534, GHSA-84fr-rw9r-j8p4, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50534.