CRITICAL Introduced in 4.6
ceph JournalInfo Deref
CVE-2026-80528
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
KernelScan AI5.5MEDIUM
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ceph: avoid fs reclaim while using current->journal_info handle_reply() stores a `ceph_mds_request` pointer in `current->journal_info` while filling the inode and dentry cache from an MDS reply. An allocation in this section can enter direct reclaim and prune dentries from another filesystem. If this dirties an ext4 inode, ext4 starts a JBD2 transaction. JBD2 interprets the Ceph request in `current->journal_info` as a journal handle and dereferences the request's `r_tid` as `h_transaction`, causing a kernel crash, e.g.: Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 00000000077b4818 [...] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] SMP Modules linked in: CPU: 6 UID: 0 PID: 2699135 Comm: kworker/6:3 Tainted: G W 6.18.38-i3 #1113 NONE [...] Workqueue: ceph-msgr ceph_con_workfn pstate: 80400009 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : jbd2__journal_start+0x2c/0x208 lr : __ext4_journal_start_sb+0x100/0x178 [...] Call trace: jbd2__journal_start+0x2c/0x208 (P) __ext4_journal_start_sb+0x100/0x178 ext4_dirty_inode+0x3c/0x90 __mark_inode_dirty+0x58/0x400 iput.part.0+0x2b0/0x370 iput+0x18/0x30 dentry_unlink_inode+0xc0/0x158 __dentry_kill+0x80/0x250 shrink_dentry_list+0x90/0x130 prune_dcache_sb+0x60/0x98 super_cache_scan+0xe8/0x190 do_shrink_slab+0x174/0x388 shrink_slab+0xd8/0x4c0 shrink_node+0x31c/0x908 do_try_to_free_pages+0xd0/0x508 try_to_free_pages+0x11c/0x238 __alloc_frozen_pages_noprof+0x4d0/0xdd0 __folio_alloc_noprof+0x18/0x70 __filemap_get_folio+0x248/0x440 ceph_readdir_prepopulate+0x570/0x9e8 mds_dispatch+0x1424/0x1ba0 ceph_con_process_message+0x74/0xa0 ceph_con_v1_try_read+0x3a0/0x1510 ceph_con_workfn+0x260/0x460 Enter a scoped NOFS allocation context and leave it after clearing `journal_info`. This prevents filesystem reclaim from recursing into another filesystem while the field contains Ceph-private data.
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
A Ceph filesystem client stores a request pointer in a per-task field that ext4's journaling layer also uses, and an allocation during reply processing can trigger reclaim of ext4 dentries, causing JBD2 to dereference the Ceph pointer as a journal handle and crash the kernel. The trigger requires a mounted Ceph filesystem and memory pressure that induces direct reclaim while processing an MDS reply. The impact is a kernel panic (denial of service) with no demonstrated data corruption or information disclosure.
Vulnerability analysis
While processing a metadata server reply, the Ceph client stores a private request pointer in a per-task field that ext4's journaling subsystem also uses for its transaction handles. If a memory allocation during that processing enters direct reclaim, the shrinker may prune dentries from an ext4 filesystem, dirtying inodes and starting a JBD2 transaction. JBD2 then interprets the Ceph request pointer as a journal handle and dereferences a field as a transaction pointer, causing a kernel crash. The fix wraps the section in a NOFS allocation scope so that reclaim cannot recurse into filesystem code while the Ceph pointer occupies the field, and restores normal allocation behavior after the field is cleared. The vulnerable path is reached from a mounted Ceph filesystem client processing server replies, requiring an attacker who can influence MDS responses or induce memory pressure on a system with both Ceph and ext4 mounted.
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.15 | 4.6 | 5.15.217 | 00c12f57a87f |
| 6.1 | 4.6 | 6.1.184 | 4dbb2c02558e |
| 6.12 | 4.6 | 6.12.105 | 47b745747b3a |
| 6.18 | 4.6 | 6.18.46 | 79d95b43ca09 |
| 7.1 | 4.6 | 7.1.10 | b6a098961307 |
| mainline | 4.6 | 7.2 | 5b602344a49e |
| 6.6 | 4.6 | 6.6.153 | c8a21660c3b9 |
| 5.10 | 4.6 | 5.10.266 | ca5fa2380dd9 |
| cip/4.19 | 4.6 | 4.19.325-cip136 | 9f2f8cfc661f |
| cip/4.19-rt | 4.6 | 4.19.325-cip136-rt50 | 9f2f8cfc661f |
| cip/5.10 | 4.6 | 5.10.268-cip77 | ca5fa2380dd9 |
| cip/5.10-rt | 4.6 | 5.10.268-cip77-rt34 | ca5fa2380dd9 |
| cip/6.1 | 4.6 | 6.1.187-cip60 | 4dbb2c02558e |
| cip/6.12 | 4.6 | 6.12.108-cip31 | 47b745747b3a |