---
id: CVE-2025-22121
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  ext4: fix out-of-bound read in ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all()

  There's issue as follows:
  BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0x6ff/0x790
  Read of …
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  ext4: fix out-of-bound read in ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all()

  There's issue as follows:
  BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0x6ff/0x790
  Read of …
severity: high
cvss: 8.4
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-125
vendor: linux
product: linux_kernel
affected:
  - 'linux_kernel >= 4.13, < 6.14.2'
patched:
  - linux_kernel 6.14.2
published: '2025-04-16'
updated: '2026-10-15'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-15T22:18:15.267'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-22121'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/098927a13fd918bd7c64c2de905350a1ad7b4a3a'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0c8fbb6ffb3c8f5164572ca88e4ccb6cd6a41ca8'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/27202452b0bc942fdc3db72a44c4dcdab96d5b56'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3c591353956ffcace2cc74d09930774afed60619'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5701875f9609b000d91351eaa6bfd97fe2f157f4'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b374e9ecc92aaa7fb2ab221ee3ff5451118ab566'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c000a8a9b5343a5ef867df173c6349672dacbd0f'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-019113.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-457936.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00217
epssPercentile: 0.1209
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-10-15T21:44:31.080003Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-09-08T15:33:26.998Z'
---

## Overview

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

ext4: fix out-of-bound read in ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all()

There's issue as follows:
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0x6ff/0x790
Read of size 4 at addr ffff88807b003000 by task syz-executor.0/15172

CPU: 3 PID: 15172 Comm: syz-executor.0
Call Trace:
 __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:82 [inline]
 dump_stack+0xbe/0xfd lib/dump_stack.c:123
 print_address_description.constprop.0+0x1e/0x280 mm/kasan/report.c:400
 __kasan_report.cold+0x6c/0x84 mm/kasan/report.c:560
 kasan_report+0x3a/0x50 mm/kasan/report.c:585
 ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all+0x6ff/0x790 fs/ext4/xattr.c:1137
 ext4_xattr_delete_inode+0x4c7/0xda0 fs/ext4/xattr.c:2896
 ext4_evict_inode+0xb3b/0x1670 fs/ext4/inode.c:323
 evict+0x39f/0x880 fs/inode.c:622
 iput_final fs/inode.c:1746 [inline]
 iput fs/inode.c:1772 [inline]
 iput+0x525/0x6c0 fs/inode.c:1758
 ext4_orphan_cleanup fs/ext4/super.c:3298 [inline]
 ext4_fill_super+0x8c57/0xba40 fs/ext4/super.c:5300
 mount_bdev+0x355/0x410 fs/super.c:1446
 legacy_get_tree+0xfe/0x220 fs/fs_context.c:611
 vfs_get_tree+0x8d/0x2f0 fs/super.c:1576
 do_new_mount fs/namespace.c:2983 [inline]
 path_mount+0x119a/0x1ad0 fs/namespace.c:3316
 do_mount+0xfc/0x110 fs/namespace.c:3329
 __do_sys_mount fs/namespace.c:3540 [inline]
 __se_sys_mount+0x219/0x2e0 fs/namespace.c:3514
 do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40 arch/x86/entry/common.c:46
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0xd1

Memory state around the buggy address:
 ffff88807b002f00: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
 ffff88807b002f80: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
>ffff88807b003000: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
                   ^
 ffff88807b003080: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
 ffff88807b003100: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

Above issue happens as ext4_xattr_delete_inode() isn't check xattr
is valid if xattr is in inode.
To solve above issue call xattr_check_inode() check if xattr if valid
in inode. In fact, we can directly verify in ext4_iget_extra_inode(),
so that there is no divergent verification.

## Affected

- `linux_kernel >= 4.13, < 6.14.2`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `linux_kernel 6.14.2`