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

ext4: guard against EA inode refcount underflow in xattr update

syzkaller found a path where ext4_xattr_inode_update_ref() reads an EA
inode refcount that is already <= 0 and then applies ref_change (often
-1). That lets the refcount underflow and we proceed with a bogus value,
triggering errors like:

EXT4-fs error: EA inode <n> ref underflow: ref_count=-1 ref_change=-1
EXT4-fs warning: ea_inode dec ref err=-117

Make the invariant explicit: if the current refcount is non-positive,
treat this as on-disk corruption, emit ext4_error_inode(), and fail the
operation with -EFSCORRUPTED instead of updating the refcount. Delete the
WARN_ONCE() as negative refcounts are now impossible; keep error reporting
in ext4_error_inode().

This prevents the underflow and the follow-on orphan/cleanup churn.
Advisories

No advisories yet.

Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 12:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.0, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

threat_severity

Moderate


Thu, 13 Nov 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 22:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: guard against EA inode refcount underflow in xattr update syzkaller found a path where ext4_xattr_inode_update_ref() reads an EA inode refcount that is already <= 0 and then applies ref_change (often -1). That lets the refcount underflow and we proceed with a bogus value, triggering errors like: EXT4-fs error: EA inode <n> ref underflow: ref_count=-1 ref_change=-1 EXT4-fs warning: ea_inode dec ref err=-117 Make the invariant explicit: if the current refcount is non-positive, treat this as on-disk corruption, emit ext4_error_inode(), and fail the operation with -EFSCORRUPTED instead of updating the refcount. Delete the WARN_ONCE() as negative refcounts are now impossible; keep error reporting in ext4_error_inode(). This prevents the underflow and the follow-on orphan/cleanup churn.
Title ext4: guard against EA inode refcount underflow in xattr update
References

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2025-11-12T21:56:30.914Z

Reserved: 2025-04-16T07:20:57.177Z

Link: CVE-2025-40190

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2025-11-12T22:15:45.960

Modified: 2025-11-14T16:42:30.503

Link: CVE-2025-40190

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Moderate

Publid Date: 2025-11-12T00:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2025-40190 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2025-11-13T09:52:30Z