CVE-2026-89787 PUBLISHED

ext4: check dir entry fits before reading the hash trailer in ext4_search_dir()

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 11.09.2026 Published: 16.09.2026 Updated: 16.09.2026

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

ext4: check dir entry fits before reading the hash trailer in ext4_search_dir()

For casefolded encrypted directories ext4 stores an 8-byte hash trailer after the name (EXT4_DIRENT_HASHES()), at an offset derived from de->name_len. On the sb_no_casefold_compat_fallback() path ext4_match() reads that trailer, but ext4_search_dir()'s by-hand pre-check only tests de->name + de->name_len <= dlimit, which proves the name fits, not the rounded trailer. A crafted entry whose name ends at the block boundary passes the check while EXT4_DIRENT_HASHES(de) lands past the block end, so ext4_match() reads out of bounds on an ordinary lookup. KASAN reports it as a use-after-free when the page after the directory block holds a freed object:

BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ext4_match (fs/ext4/namei.c:1435) Read of size 4 at addr ffff888010458000 by task exploit Call Trace: ext4_match (fs/ext4/namei.c:1435) ext4_search_dir (fs/ext4/namei.c:1470) __ext4_find_entry (fs/ext4/namei.c:1268 fs/ext4/namei.c:1632) ext4_lookup (fs/ext4/namei.c:1703 fs/ext4/namei.c:1769) ... filename_lookup (fs/namei.c:2842) vfs_statx (fs/stat.c:353) __do_sys_newfstatat (fs/stat.c:538) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94) entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:121)

Require, for hash-in-dirent directories, that the whole entry including the rounded trailer fits before calling ext4_match(). This is the same bound ext4_check_dir_entry() already enforces via ext4_dir_rec_len(), so no well-formed entry is rejected. The other caller, ext4_find_dest_de(), runs ext4_check_dir_entry() first and is unaffected.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 471fbbea7ff7061b2d6474665cb5a2ceb4fd6500 to 4d20106c536b73c4a8a02652dc85e35898baebf7 (excl.)
  • affected from 471fbbea7ff7061b2d6474665cb5a2ceb4fd6500 to 61a395967de06edba58760e81907a272db749faa (excl.)
  • affected from 471fbbea7ff7061b2d6474665cb5a2ceb4fd6500 to e94676a08af6312aa72d8a981232b281f9bcfcf5 (excl.)
  • affected from 471fbbea7ff7061b2d6474665cb5a2ceb4fd6500 to d8c184bec24b5a00ae96d704856d935eaded1685 (excl.)
  • affected from 471fbbea7ff7061b2d6474665cb5a2ceb4fd6500 to 3933884bc3102898b458c53fbd1ac52eb9cdb8a4 (excl.)
  • affected from 471fbbea7ff7061b2d6474665cb5a2ceb4fd6500 to 83663c0b739480c00cfe785675db87520ec484ed (excl.)
  • affected from 471fbbea7ff7061b2d6474665cb5a2ceb4fd6500 to c7e6b863d298f56522d0d08554bbea7f142e6588 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 5.13 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 5.13 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 5.15.221 to 5.15.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.1.188 to 6.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.6.157 to 6.6.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.110 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.52 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.6 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc1 to * (incl.)

References