# CVE-2024-49959: jbd2: stop waiting for space when jbd2_cleanup_journal_tail() returns error

> A flaw in the Linux kernel's jbd2 journaling subsystem can cause a system hang or crash when journal cleanup fails, 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:** 21 Oct 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-52296, BELL-CVE-2024-49959, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-49959, GHSA-q7pc-7wvx-9qcx, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-49959

## What is CVE-2024-49959?

CVE-2024-49959 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 2024. 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:

jbd2: stop waiting for space when jbd2_cleanup_journal_tail() returns error

In __jbd2_log_wait_for_space(), we might call jbd2_cleanup_journal_tail()
to recover some journal space. But if an error occurs while executing
jbd2_cleanup_journal_tail() (e.g., an EIO), we don't stop waiting for free
space right away, we try other branches, and if j_committing_transaction
is NULL (i.e., the tid is 0), we will get the following complain:

============================================
JBD2: I/O error when updating journal superblock for sdd-8.
__jbd2_log_wait_for_space: needed 256 blocks and only had 217 space available
__jbd2_log_wait_for_space: no way to get more journal space in sdd-8
------------[ cut here ]------------
WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 139804 at fs/jbd2/checkpoint.c:109 __jbd2_log_wait_for_space+0x251/0x2e0
Modules linked in:
CPU: 2 PID: 139804 Comm: kworker/u8:3 Not tainted 6.6.0+ #1
RIP: 0010:__jbd2_log_wait_for_space+0x251/0x2e0
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 add_transaction_credits+0x5d1/0x5e0
 start_this_handle+0x1ef/0x6a0
 jbd2__journal_start+0x18b/0x340
 ext4_dirty_inode+0x5d/0xb0
 __mark_inode_dirty+0xe4/0x5d0
 generic_update_time+0x60/0x70
[...]
============================================

So only if jbd2_cleanup_journal_tail() returns 1, i.e., there is nothing to
clean up at the moment, continue to try to reclaim free space in other ways.

Note that this fix relies on commit 6f6a6fda2945 ("jbd2: fix ocfs2 corrupt
when updating journal superblock fails") to make jbd2_cleanup_journal_tail
return the correct error code.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-49959?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-49959?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-49959 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-49959 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-2024-49959 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-49959 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 Oct 2024. 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-2024-49959 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-2024-49959/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49959/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-49959
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-49959
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-49959

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-49959/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.