CVE-2023-52622

ext4: avoid online resizing failures due to oversized flex bg

Published Mar 26, 2024 CVSS 3.1 · 5.5 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ext4: avoid online resizing failures due to oversized flex bg

When we online resize an ext4 filesystem with a oversized flexbg_size,

mkfs.ext4 -F -G 67108864 $dev -b 4096 100M
mount $dev $dir
resize2fs $dev 16G

the following WARN_ON is triggered:
==================================================================
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 427 at mm/page_alloc.c:4402 __alloc_pages+0x411/0x550
Modules linked in: sg(E)
CPU: 0 PID: 427 Comm: resize2fs Tainted: G E 6.6.0-rc5+ #314
RIP: 0010:__alloc_pages+0x411/0x550
Call Trace:
<TASK>
__kmalloc_large_node+0xa2/0x200
__kmalloc+0x16e/0x290
ext4_resize_fs+0x481/0xd80
__ext4_ioctl+0x1616/0x1d90
ext4_ioctl+0x12/0x20
__x64_sys_ioctl+0xf0/0x150
do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90
==================================================================

This is because flexbg_size is too large and the size of the new_group_data
array to be allocated exceeds MAX_ORDER. Currently, the minimum value of
MAX_ORDER is 8, the minimum value of PAGE_SIZE is 4096, the corresponding
maximum number of groups that can be allocated is:

(PAGE_SIZE << MAX_ORDER) / sizeof(struct ext4_new_group_data) ≈ 21845

And the value that is down-aligned to the power of 2 is 16384. Therefore,
this value is defined as MAX_RESIZE_BG, and the number of groups added
each time does not exceed this value during resizing, and is added multiple
times to complete the online resizing. The difference is that the metadata
in a flex_bg may be more dispersed.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-3840-1 linux security update
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-3842-1 linux-5.10 security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-5658-1 linux security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-5681-1 linux security update
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6766-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6766-2 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6766-3 Linux kernel (AWS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6767-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6767-2 Linux kernel (BlueField) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6795-1 Linux kernel (Intel IoTG) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6818-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6818-2 Linux kernel (ARM laptop) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6818-3 Linux kernel (NVIDIA) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6818-4 Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6819-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6819-2 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6819-3 Linux kernel (OEM) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6819-4 Linux kernel (Oracle) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-6828-1 Linux kernel (Intel IoTG) vulnerabilities
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat rhel Eus
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_eus:9.4
Vendors & Products Redhat rhel Eus
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Debian
Debian debian Linux
Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Weaknesses CWE-770
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Debian
Debian debian Linux
Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:8::nfv
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Linux
Published
Updated
Oct 15, 2026, 12:17 AM
Reserved
Mar 6, 2024, 9:52 AM
Status
Modified
Published
Mar 26, 2024, 6:15 PM
Modified
Oct 15, 2026, 1:17 AM
Severity
Low
Public date
Mar 26, 2024, 12:00 AM