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.
INFO
Published Date :
2025-11-12T21:56:30.914Z
Last Modified :
2025-11-12T21:56:30.914Z
Source :
Linux
AFFECTED PRODUCTS
The following products are affected by CVE-2025-40190 vulnerability.
| Vendors | Products |
|---|---|
| Linux |
|
REFERENCES
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information to CVE-2025-40190.
