HIGH
f2fs Swapfile Extent Mapping Logic Error
CVE-2026-23233
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
KernelScan AI7.8HIGH
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: f2fs: fix to avoid mapping wrong physical block for swapfile Xiaolong Guo reported a f2fs bug in bugzilla [1] [1] https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=220951 Quoted: "When using stress-ng's swap stress test on F2FS filesystem with kernel 6.6+, the system experiences data corruption leading to either: 1 dm-verity corruption errors and device reboot 2 F2FS node corruption errors and boot hangs The issue occurs specifically when: 1 Using F2FS filesystem (ext4 is unaffected) 2 Swapfile size is less than F2FS section size (2MB) 3 Swapfile has fragmented physical layout (multiple non-contiguous extents) 4 Kernel version is 6.6+ (6.1 is unaffected) The root cause is in check_swap_activate() function in fs/f2fs/data.c. When the first extent of a small swapfile (< 2MB) is not aligned to section boundaries, the function incorrectly treats it as the last extent, failing to map subsequent extents. This results in incorrect swap_extent creation where only the first extent is mapped, causing subsequent swap writes to overwrite wrong physical locations (other files' data). Steps to Reproduce 1 Setup a device with F2FS-formatted userdata partition 2 Compile stress-ng from https://github.com/ColinIanKing/stress-ng 3 Run swap stress test: (Android devices) adb shell "cd /data/stressng; ./stress-ng-64 --metrics-brief --timeout 60 --swap 0" Log: 1 Ftrace shows in kernel 6.6, only first extent is mapped during second f2fs_map_blocks call in check_swap_activate(): stress-ng-swap-8990: f2fs_map_blocks: ino=11002, file offset=0, start blkaddr=0x43143, len=0x1 (Only 4KB mapped, not the full swapfile) 2 in kernel 6.1, both extents are correctly mapped: stress-ng-swap-5966: f2fs_map_blocks: ino=28011, file offset=0, start blkaddr=0x13cd4, len=0x1 stress-ng-swap-5966: f2fs_map_blocks: ino=28011, file offset=1, start blkaddr=0x60c84b, len=0xff The problematic code is in check_swap_activate(): if ((pblock - SM_I(sbi)->main_blkaddr) % blks_per_sec || nr_pblocks % blks_per_sec || !f2fs_valid_pinned_area(sbi, pblock)) { bool last_extent = false; not_aligned++; nr_pblocks = roundup(nr_pblocks, blks_per_sec); if (cur_lblock + nr_pblocks > sis->max) nr_pblocks -= blks_per_sec; /* this extent is last one */ if (!nr_pblocks) { nr_pblocks = last_lblock - cur_lblock; last_extent = true; } ret = f2fs_migrate_blocks(inode, cur_lblock, nr_pblocks); if (ret) { if (ret == -ENOENT) ret = -EINVAL; goto out; } if (!last_extent) goto retry; } When the first extent is unaligned and roundup(nr_pblocks, blks_per_sec) exceeds sis->max, we subtract blks_per_sec resulting in nr_pblocks = 0. The code then incorrectly assumes this is the last extent, sets nr_pblocks = last_lblock - cur_lblock (entire swapfile), and performs migration. After migration, it doesn't retry mapping, so subsequent extents are never processed. " In order to fix this issue, we need to lookup block mapping info after we migrate all blocks in the tail of swapfile.
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
This vulnerability causes data corruption in f2fs filesystems when using small, fragmented swapfiles. The bug results in incomplete extent mapping during swapfile activation, causing swap writes to overwrite wrong physical locations and corrupt other files' data. This can lead to system crashes, boot failures, or silent data corruption.
Vulnerability analysis
Root Cause: In the f2fs swapfile activation logic, when processing unaligned extents that are smaller than the section size, the code incorrectly determines that the first extent is the last extent. This happens when roundup(nr_pblocks, blks_per_sec) exceeds sis->max, causing nr_pblocks to be set to 0, which triggers the 'last extent' condition. After migrating blocks for this supposed 'last extent', the function exits the retry loop without processing subsequent extents.
Attack Surface: Local filesystem operations requiring swapfile creation on f2fs with specific conditions: swapfile size < 2MB, fragmented physical layout with multiple non-contiguous extents, and unaligned first extent. No special privileges required beyond normal file system access.
Fix Mechanism: The patch restructures the logic by moving the last_extent variable declaration outside the alignment check and modifying the condition to prevent premature exit. It removes the conditional retry based on last_extent and instead always retries after block migration to ensure all extents are properly mapped. This ensures that after migrating blocks in the tail of the swapfile, the function continues to lookup block mapping info for remaining extents.
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|
| 6.12 | 6.12.74 | 1ff415eef513 |
| 6.18 | 6.18.13 | fee27b69dde1 |
| 6.19 | 6.19.3 | 607cb9d83838 |
| 6.6 | 6.6.127 | d4534a7f6c92 |
| mainline | 7.0 | 5c145c03188b |