CVE-2022-50546

  • Published: 2025-10-07T16:15:39.147

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ext4: fix uninititialized value in ‘ext4_evict_inode’

Syzbot found the following issue:
=====================================================
BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in ext4_evict_inode+0xdd/0x26b0 fs/ext4/inode.c:180
ext4_evict_inode+0xdd/0x26b0 fs/ext4/inode.c:180
evict+0x365/0x9a0 fs/inode.c:664
iput_final fs/inode.c:1747 [inline]
iput+0x985/0xdd0 fs/inode.c:1773
__ext4_new_inode+0xe54/0x7ec0 fs/ext4/ialloc.c:1361
ext4_mknod+0x376/0x840 fs/ext4/namei.c:2844
vfs_mknod+0x79d/0x830 fs/namei.c:3914
do_mknodat+0x47d/0xaa0
__do_sys_mknodat fs/namei.c:3992 [inline]
__se_sys_mknodat fs/namei.c:3989 [inline]
__ia32_sys_mknodat+0xeb/0x150 fs/namei.c:3989
do_syscall_32_irqs_on arch/x86/entry/common.c:112 [inline]
__do_fast_syscall_32+0xa2/0x100 arch/x86/entry/common.c:178
do_fast_syscall_32+0x33/0x70 arch/x86/entry/common.c:203
do_SYSENTER_32+0x1b/0x20 arch/x86/entry/common.c:246
entry_SYSENTER_compat_after_hwframe+0x70/0x82

Uninit was created at:
__alloc_pages+0x9f1/0xe80 mm/page_alloc.c:5578
alloc_pages+0xaae/0xd80 mm/mempolicy.c:2285
alloc_slab_page mm/slub.c:1794 [inline]
allocate_slab+0x1b5/0x1010 mm/slub.c:1939
new_slab mm/slub.c:1992 [inline]
___slab_alloc+0x10c3/0x2d60 mm/slub.c:3180
__slab_alloc mm/slub.c:3279 [inline]
slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3364 [inline]
slab_alloc mm/slub.c:3406 [inline]
__kmem_cache_alloc_lru mm/slub.c:3413 [inline]
kmem_cache_alloc_lru+0x6f3/0xb30 mm/slub.c:3429
alloc_inode_sb include/linux/fs.h:3117 [inline]
ext4_alloc_inode+0x5f/0x860 fs/ext4/super.c:1321
alloc_inode+0x83/0x440 fs/inode.c:259
new_inode_pseudo fs/inode.c:1018 [inline]
new_inode+0x3b/0x430 fs/inode.c:1046
__ext4_new_inode+0x2a7/0x7ec0 fs/ext4/ialloc.c:959
ext4_mkdir+0x4d5/0x1560 fs/ext4/namei.c:2992
vfs_mkdir+0x62a/0x870 fs/namei.c:4035
do_mkdirat+0x466/0x7b0 fs/namei.c:4060
__do_sys_mkdirat fs/namei.c:4075 [inline]
__se_sys_mkdirat fs/namei.c:4073 [inline]
__ia32_sys_mkdirat+0xc4/0x120 fs/namei.c:4073
do_syscall_32_irqs_on arch/x86/entry/common.c:112 [inline]
__do_fast_syscall_32+0xa2/0x100 arch/x86/entry/common.c:178
do_fast_syscall_32+0x33/0x70 arch/x86/entry/common.c:203
do_SYSENTER_32+0x1b/0x20 arch/x86/entry/common.c:246
entry_SYSENTER_compat_after_hwframe+0x70/0x82

CPU: 1 PID: 4625 Comm: syz-executor.2 Not tainted 6.1.0-rc4-syzkaller-62821-gcb231e2f67ec #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/26/2022
=====================================================

Now, ‘ext4_alloc_inode()’ didn’t init ‘ei->i_flags’. If new inode failed
before set ‘ei->i_flags’ in ‘__ext4_new_inode()’, then do ‘iput()’. As after
6bc0d63dad7f commit will access ‘ei->i_flags’ in ‘ext4_evict_inode()’ which
will lead to access uninit-value.
To solve above issue just init ‘ei->i_flags’ in ‘ext4_alloc_inode()’.

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How to fix CVE-2022-50546

CVE-2022-50546 is a unknown severity vulnerability affecting the affected product.

Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix uninititialized value in ‘ext4_evict_inode’ Syzbot found the following issue: ===================================================== BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in ext4_evict_inode+0xdd/0x26b0 fs/ext4/inode.c:180 ext4_evict_inode+0xdd/0x26b0 fs/ext4/inode.c:180 evict+0x365/0x9a0 fs/inode.c:664 iput_final fs/inode.c:1747 [inline] iput+0x985/0xdd0 fs/inode.c:1773 __ext4_new_inode+0xe54/0x7ec0 fs/ext4/ialloc.c:1361 ext4_mknod+0x376/0x840 fs/ext4/namei.c:2844 vfs_mknod+0x79d/0x830 fs/namei.c:3914 do_mknodat+0x47d/0xaa0 __do_sys_mknodat fs/namei.c:3992 [inline] __se_sys_mknodat fs/namei.c:3989 [inline] __ia32_sys_mknodat+0xeb/0x150 fs/namei.c:3989 do_syscall_32_irqs_on arch/x86/entry/common.c:112 [inline] […]

Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public

How to Fix:

1 Identify affected systems

- Check if you're running the affected product

2 Immediate actions

- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access

3 Verification

- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)

4 Long-term prevention

- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations

Exploit Difficulty Assessment

HARD
⏱️ Time to Exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Skills Required: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public Exploits: Rare or not public

Vulnerability Timeline

Oct 07, 2025
Vulnerability Published

CVE details first published to NVD database

Nov 12, 2025
Imported to Database

Added to this CVE tracking system

Detection Rules & IOCs

No specific detection rules generated for this vulnerability type.

No vendor/product data available.