# CVE-2025-22120: ext4: goto right label 'out_mmap_sem' in ext4_setattr()

> A logic error in the ext4 filesystem can cause a hung task and denial of service if inode attachment fails, requiring a kernel patch.

- **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:** 16 Apr 2025
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2025-22120, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-22120, GHSA-9vh4-w78f-qwqw, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2025-22120, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-22120

## What is CVE-2025-22120?

CVE-2025-22120 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Apr 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: goto right label 'out_mmap_sem' in ext4_setattr()

Otherwise, if ext4_inode_attach_jinode() fails, a hung task will
happen because filemap_invalidate_unlock() isn't called to unlock
mapping->invalidate_lock. Like this:

EXT4-fs error (device sda) in ext4_setattr:5557: Out of memory
INFO: task fsstress:374 blocked for more than 122 seconds.
      Not tainted 6.14.0-rc1-next-20250206-xfstests-dirty #726
"echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
task:fsstress state:D stack:0     pid:374   tgid:374   ppid:373
                                  task_flags:0x440140 flags:0x00000000
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 __schedule+0x2c9/0x7f0
 schedule+0x27/0xa0
 schedule_preempt_disabled+0x15/0x30
 rwsem_down_read_slowpath+0x278/0x4c0
 down_read+0x59/0xb0
 page_cache_ra_unbounded+0x65/0x1b0
 filemap_get_pages+0x124/0x3e0
 filemap_read+0x114/0x3d0
 vfs_read+0x297/0x360
 ksys_read+0x6c/0xe0
 do_syscall_64+0x4b/0x110
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-22120?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-22120?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-22120 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-22120 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-2025-22120 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-22120 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Apr 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-2025-22120 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-2025-22120/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22120/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-22120
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-22120
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-22120

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22120/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.