Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ext4: fix ABBA deadlock in ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find()
Syzbot/stress-ng reported an ABBA deadlock in ext4 when exercising
concurrent xattr workloads (using the ea_inode mount/format option).
The deadlock occurs between the running transaction and the eviction
thread:
- Task 1 (stress-ng): Holds a reference to a shared mbcache_entry (ce)
and calls ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find() -> ext4_iget() to retrieve
the corresponding EA inode. Since the EA inode is currently being
evicted, ext4_iget() blocks in __wait_on_freeing_inode() waiting for
eviction to complete.
- Task 2 (eviction thread): Currently evicting the same EA inode in
ext4_evict_ea_inode(). It calls mb_cache_entry_wait_unused(oe) which
blocks waiting for Task 1 to release the reference to the mbcache_entry.
To break this deadlock, implement a new ext4_iget() configuration flag
named EXT4_IGET_NOWAIT. When set, perform a non-blocking lookup of the
inode via VFS's find_inode_nowait() API.
If the inode is currently being evicted (marked with I_FREEING or
I_WILL_FREE) or created (I_CREATING), or if it is not present in the VFS
inode cache (cache miss), simply skip it (returning -ENOENT) rather than
waiting for eviction/creation to complete, breaking the ABBA cycle.
Since we return -ENOENT immediately on a cache miss, we never attempt to
allocate a new inode or call iget_locked(), completely eliminating any
TOCTOU race window.
If the returned inode is I_NEW, wait for its initialization to clear via
wait_on_new_inode(). If initialization fails and the inode is unhashed
during wait_on_new_inode() waking up (e.g., due to an I/O read error in
another thread), safely drop the reference and return -ENOENT. This
unhashed check is executed unconditionally on all cache-hit pathways to
properly handle concurrent initialization failures.
Finally, standard validation checks (including is_bad_inode,
EXT4_EA_INODE_FL, file_acl, and xattr flags) are executed as normal inside
check_igot_inode() to fully guarantee VFS-layer safety.
In ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find(), invoke ext4_iget() with the new
EXT4_IGET_NOWAIT flag to perform the non-blocking cache search.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.1.107 – < 6.1.191, 6.6.47 – < 6.6.160, 6.9.7 – < 6.10, 6.10 | 6.1.191 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | linux | 7.2.6-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | linux | 6.12.115-2 | — |
| Debian 12 | linux | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 24.04 LTS | linux-bluefield | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux | 7.0.0-42.42 | USN-8959-1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux-aws | 7.0.0-1016.17 | USN-8959-1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux-azure | 7.0.0-1020.21 | USN-9019-1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux-azure-fde | 7.0.0-1019.19 | USN-9020-1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux-gcp | 7.0.0-1016.18 | USN-8959-1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux-gke | 7.0.0-1010.11 | USN-9020-1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux-ibm +1 | 7.0.0-1017.17 | USN-8960-1, USN-8959-1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux-nvidia +1 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux-oracle | 7.0.0-1015.16 | USN-8959-1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux-raspi | 7.0.0-1023.23 | USN-9021-1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux-realtime | 7.0.0-43.43.1 | USN-9020-1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | linux-riscv | 7.0.0-42.42.1 | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux +46 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-aws-7.0 | 7.0.0-1017.18~24.04.1 | USN-9020-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-azure-fde-7.0 | 7.0.0-1019.19~24.04.1 | USN-9020-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-gcp-7.0 | 7.0.0-1017.19~24.04.1 | USN-9020-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-hwe-7.0 | 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1 | USN-8959-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-oracle-7.0 | 7.0.0-1016.18~24.04.1 | USN-9020-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-riscv-7.0 | 7.0.0-42.42.1~24.04.1 | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | linux-riscv +42 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | linux-gke +28 | No fix yet | — |
Show 5 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | linux-gcp +14 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | linux-hwe-edge | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS | linux-realtime +3 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS | linux-realtime-6.8 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS | linux-fips +3 | No fix yet | — |
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES 15 SP7 | kernel-64kb +7 | 6.4.0-150700.53.84.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4706-1 |
| SLES 15 SP7 | kernel-default-base | 6.4.0-150700.53.84.1.150700.17.47.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4706-1 |
Show 5 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLE Micro 6.2 | podman | 5.4.2-160000.6.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:24182-1 |
| SLE Micro 6.1 | kernel-default-base | 6.4.0-159998.53.1.159998.21.38 | SUSE-SU-2026:24181-1 |
| SLE Micro 6.1 | kernel-rt +4 | 6.4.0-159998.53.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:24182-1, SUSE-SU-2026:24181-1 |
| SLE Micro 6.0 | kernel-default-base | 6.4.0-159998.53.1.159998.21.38 | SUSE-SU-2026:24315-1 |
| SLE Micro 6.0 | kernel-rt +4 | 6.4.0-159998.53.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:24316-1, SUSE-SU-2026:24315-1 |
| SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 | kernel-default | 6.4.0-150700.53.84.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4706-1 |
| SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 | kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7-RT_Update_21 | 1-150700.1.3.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4640-1 |
| SLE Live Patching 15 SP7 | kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7_Update_22 | 1-150700.15.3.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4706-1 |
| SUSE Real Time Module 15 SP7 | kernel-rt +2 | 6.4.0-150700.7.78.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4640-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | kernel-source | 7.2.8-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:11893-1 |
Amazon Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux 2023 | kernel-livepatch-6.12.114-139.210 | 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3402 |
| Amazon Linux 2023 | perf6.12 +11 | 1:6.12.114-139.210.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-3402 |
Azure Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Linux 3 | kernel | No fix yet | — |
Advisories 14
- USN-9021-1 linux-raspi vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 12, 2026
- WID-SEC-2026-3444 Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Nov 12, 2026
- USN-9020-1 linux-aws-7.0, linux-azure-fde, linux-azure-fde-7.0, linux-gcp-7.0, linux-gke, linux-oracle-7.0, linux-realtime vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 12, 2026
- USN-8959-1 linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp, linux-hwe-7.0, linux-ibm, linux-oracle vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 12, 2026
- USN-9019-1 linux-azure vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 12, 2026
- USN-8960-1 linux-oem-7.0 vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 12, 2026
- ALAS2023-2026-3402 Important: kernel6.12 security update (Amazon Linux 2023) Amazon Linux Security Center (ALAS) · Nov 11, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:24315-1 Security update for the Linux Kernel SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 27, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:24316-1 Security update for the Linux Kernel SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 27, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:24181-1 Security update for the Linux Kernel SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 20, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:24182-1 Security update for the Linux Kernel SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 20, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:4706-1 Security update for the Linux Kernel SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 17, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:4640-1 Security update for the Linux Kernel SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 14, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2026:11893-1 kernel-devel-7.2.8-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Sep 29, 2026
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e5e883ffe5230320060ea613a1acf750f3161c95
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/29a2a166450a3e89f61a486033b10cf170fde8b0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d3b19b318e0e0483180d15f1d9f5e807a1fb59d5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/074d0620401974cbfa9b63684cdfae99c7b2059c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7720fddd1fe344d14be258a2028f74ebf1569511
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/03438084a7b8621fb5c762dd3d04cff5f2630fb2