0.0
NA
CVE-2026-92502
ext4: clear stale xarray tags on folios skipped during writeback
Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: clear stale xarray tags on folios skipped during writeback In data=journal mode, the writeback thread can hit the WARN_ON_ONCE(sb_rdonly(sb)) in ext4_journal_check_start() while the superblock is being remounted read-only during reboot: Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-253:0) RIP: 0010:ext4_journal_check_start+0x8b/0xd0 Call Trace: __ext4_journal_start_sb+0x3c/0x1e0 mpage_prepare_extent_to_map+0x4af/0x580 ext4_do_writepages+0x3c0/0x1080 ext4_writepages+0xc8/0x1a0 do_writepages+0xc4/0x180 __writeback_single_inode+0x45/0x2f0 writeback_sb_inodes+0x26b/0x5d0 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x54/0x100 wb_writeback+0x1ac/0x320 wb_workfn+0x394/0x470 And followed by the warning: EXT4-fs warning (device vda1): ext4_evict_inode:195: inode #6263: comm (sd-umount): data will be lost This issue is not reproduced every time, but frequently. The reproduction step is to create a VM with 8 CPUs, 16G memory and setup data=journal: sudo tune2fs -o journal_data /dev/vda1 Run fio: rm -f fiotest fio --name=fiotest --rw=randwrite --bs=4k --runtime=6 --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=256 --numjobs=8 --filename=fiotest --filesize=30G --group_reporting Reboot the VM, and check the console output from: virsh console testvm But there is no dirty inode, folio_clear_dirty_for_io clears PG_dirty but leaves tags PAGECACHE_TAG_DIRTY and PAGECACHE_TAG_TOWRITE set which are only cleared by __folio_start_writeback. In data=journal mode, jbd2 checkpoints the journalled data to its final location and clears its own dirty flag without touching folio PG_dirty or xarray dirty flags. The commit f4a2b42e7891 ("ext4: fix stale xarray tags after writeback") fixes when PG_dirty is still set but there is no dirty page. Another case is PG_dirty is cleared, but PAGECACHE_TAG_DIRTY and PAGECACHE_TAG_TOWRITE is still set. In this case, writeback thread checks clean folio and skips it in mpage_prepare_extent_to_map: if (!folio_test_dirty(folio) || ... folio_unlcok(folio); continue And never reaches ext4_bio_write_folio where the commit f4a2b42e7891 clears the stale xarray tags. Print debug logs after the filesystem is remounted read-only: writepages RDONLY nrpages=2048 dirtytag=1 wbtag=0 towrite=1 sync=0 And all folios are actually clean: folio idx=3 dirty=0 wb=0 checked=0 dirtybuf=0 jbddirty=0 mapped=1 ... We need to clear the xarray stale tags for such clean folios by cycling them through writeback in the skip path, the same way f4a2b42e7891 does in ext4_bio_write_folio.

INFO

Published Date :

Sept. 17, 2026, 5:17 p.m.

Last Modified :

Sept. 17, 2026, 5:17 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

No

Source :

416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-92502 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Linux linux_kernel
Solution
Update the Linux kernel to a version that resolves stale xarray tags during writeback operations.
  • Update the Linux kernel to the patched version.
  • Apply the specific commit that fixes stale tags.
  • Rebuild and install the kernel.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-92502 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-92502 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-92502 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-92502 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • New CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    Sep. 17, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: clear stale xarray tags on folios skipped during writeback In data=journal mode, the writeback thread can hit the WARN_ON_ONCE(sb_rdonly(sb)) in ext4_journal_check_start() while the superblock is being remounted read-only during reboot: Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-253:0) RIP: 0010:ext4_journal_check_start+0x8b/0xd0 Call Trace: __ext4_journal_start_sb+0x3c/0x1e0 mpage_prepare_extent_to_map+0x4af/0x580 ext4_do_writepages+0x3c0/0x1080 ext4_writepages+0xc8/0x1a0 do_writepages+0xc4/0x180 __writeback_single_inode+0x45/0x2f0 writeback_sb_inodes+0x26b/0x5d0 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x54/0x100 wb_writeback+0x1ac/0x320 wb_workfn+0x394/0x470 And followed by the warning: EXT4-fs warning (device vda1): ext4_evict_inode:195: inode #6263: comm (sd-umount): data will be lost This issue is not reproduced every time, but frequently. The reproduction step is to create a VM with 8 CPUs, 16G memory and setup data=journal: sudo tune2fs -o journal_data /dev/vda1 Run fio: rm -f fiotest fio --name=fiotest --rw=randwrite --bs=4k --runtime=6 --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=256 --numjobs=8 --filename=fiotest --filesize=30G --group_reporting Reboot the VM, and check the console output from: virsh console testvm But there is no dirty inode, folio_clear_dirty_for_io clears PG_dirty but leaves tags PAGECACHE_TAG_DIRTY and PAGECACHE_TAG_TOWRITE set which are only cleared by __folio_start_writeback. In data=journal mode, jbd2 checkpoints the journalled data to its final location and clears its own dirty flag without touching folio PG_dirty or xarray dirty flags. The commit f4a2b42e7891 ("ext4: fix stale xarray tags after writeback") fixes when PG_dirty is still set but there is no dirty page. Another case is PG_dirty is cleared, but PAGECACHE_TAG_DIRTY and PAGECACHE_TAG_TOWRITE is still set. In this case, writeback thread checks clean folio and skips it in mpage_prepare_extent_to_map: if (!folio_test_dirty(folio) || ... folio_unlcok(folio); continue And never reaches ext4_bio_write_folio where the commit f4a2b42e7891 clears the stale xarray tags. Print debug logs after the filesystem is remounted read-only: writepages RDONLY nrpages=2048 dirtytag=1 wbtag=0 towrite=1 sync=0 And all folios are actually clean: folio idx=3 dirty=0 wb=0 checked=0 dirtybuf=0 jbddirty=0 mapped=1 ... We need to clear the xarray stale tags for such clean folios by cycling them through writeback in the skip path, the same way f4a2b42e7891 does in ext4_bio_write_folio.
    Added Affected New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/92xxx/CVE-2026-92502.json">CVE-2026-92502</a>
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/43ae387c3ae6a11227d096669ddf883e27a39a11
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a450ab88bfd57b227d72c7a3faad54d16c3fc099
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa0042630b1f7cab735b0a168539281198822586
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ec524aae479b4b2078c47492b90ec21200bce434
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f82a4929d0ef7ddf254c1c295ec1dfd24094f2de
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.