CVE-2024-40955

ext4: fix slab-out-of-bounds in ext4_mb_find_good_group_avg_frag_lists()

Published Jul 12, 2024 CVSS 3.1 · 5.5 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ext4: fix slab-out-of-bounds in ext4_mb_find_good_group_avg_frag_lists()

We can trigger a slab-out-of-bounds with the following commands:

mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/$disk 10G
mount /dev/$disk /tmp/test
echo 2147483647 > /sys/fs/ext4/$disk/mb_group_prealloc
echo test > /tmp/test/file && sync

==================================================================
BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in ext4_mb_find_good_group_avg_frag_lists+0x8a/0x200 [ext4]
Read of size 8 at addr ffff888121b9d0f0 by task kworker/u2:0/11
CPU: 0 PID: 11 Comm: kworker/u2:0 Tainted: GL 6.7.0-next-20240118 #521
Call Trace:
dump_stack_lvl+0x2c/0x50
kasan_report+0xb6/0xf0
ext4_mb_find_good_group_avg_frag_lists+0x8a/0x200 [ext4]
ext4_mb_regular_allocator+0x19e9/0x2370 [ext4]
ext4_mb_new_blocks+0x88a/0x1370 [ext4]
ext4_ext_map_blocks+0x14f7/0x2390 [ext4]
ext4_map_blocks+0x569/0xea0 [ext4]
ext4_do_writepages+0x10f6/0x1bc0 [ext4]
[...]
==================================================================

The flow of issue triggering is as follows:

// Set s_mb_group_prealloc to 2147483647 via sysfs
ext4_mb_new_blocks
ext4_mb_normalize_request
ext4_mb_normalize_group_request
ac->ac_g_ex.fe_len = EXT4_SB(sb)->s_mb_group_prealloc
ext4_mb_regular_allocator
ext4_mb_choose_next_group
ext4_mb_choose_next_group_best_avail
mb_avg_fragment_size_order
order = fls(len) - 2 = 29
ext4_mb_find_good_group_avg_frag_lists
frag_list = &sbi->s_mb_avg_fragment_size[order]
if (list_empty(frag_list)) // Trigger SOOB!

At 4k block size, the length of the s_mb_avg_fragment_size list is 14,
but an oversized s_mb_group_prealloc is set, causing slab-out-of-bounds
to be triggered by an attempt to access an element at index 29.

Add a new attr_id attr_clusters_in_group with values in the range
[0, sbi->s_clusters_per_group] and declare mb_group_prealloc as
that type to fix the issue. In addition avoid returning an order
from mb_avg_fragment_size_order() greater than MB_NUM_ORDERS(sb)
and reduce some useless loops.

Analysis

No analysis available yet

Remediation

No remediation available yet

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6999-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6999-2 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7004-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7005-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7005-2 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7008-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7029-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Weaknesses CWE-787
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Linux
Published
Updated
May 11, 2026, 8:23 PM
Reserved
Jul 12, 2024, 12:17 PM
Status
Modified
Published
Jul 12, 2024, 1:15 PM
Modified
Jun 17, 2026, 7:46 AM
Severity
Moderate
Public date
Jul 12, 2024, 12:00 AM