CVE-2025-39866: kernel: fs: writeback: fix use-after-free in __mark_inode_dirty()
Component: kernel
Severity: Moderate
CWE: CWE-416 (Use After Free)
CVSS v3: 6.4 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)
Public date: 2025-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

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

fs: writeback: fix use-after-free in __mark_inode_dirty()

An use-after-free issue occurred when __mark_inode_dirty() get the
bdi_writeback that was in the progress of switching.

CPU: 1 PID: 562 Comm: systemd-random- Not tainted 6.6.56-gb4403bd46a8e #1
......
pstate: 60400005 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
pc : __mark_inode_dirty+0x124/0x418
lr : __mark_inode_dirty+0x118/0x418
sp : ffffffc08c9dbbc0
........
Call trace:
 __mark_inode_dirty+0x124/0x418
 generic_update_time+0x4c/0x60
 file_modified+0xcc/0xd0
 ext4_buffered_write_iter+0x58/0x124
 ext4_file_write_iter+0x54/0x704
 vfs_write+0x1c0/0x308
 ksys_write+0x74/0x10c
 __arm64_sys_write+0x1c/0x28
 invoke_syscall+0x48/0x114
 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xc0/0xe0
 do_el0_svc+0x1c/0x28
 el0_svc+0x40/0xe4
 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x120/0x12c
 el0t_64_sync+0x194/0x198

Root cause is:

systemd-random-seed                         kworker
----------------------------------------------------------------------
___mark_inode_dirty                     inode_switch_wbs_work_fn

  spin_lock(&inode->i_lock);
  inode_attach_wb
  locked_inode_to_wb_and_lock_list
     get inode->i_wb
     spin_unlock(&inode->i_lock);
     spin_lock(&wb->list_lock)
  spin_lock(&inode->i_lock)
  inode_io_list_move_locked
  spin_unlock(&wb->list_lock)
  spin_unlock(&inode->i_lock)
                                    spin_lock(&old_wb->list_lock)
                                      inode_do_switch_wbs
                                        spin_lock(&inode->i_lock)
                                        inode->i_wb = new_wb
                                        spin_unlock(&inode->i_lock)
                                    spin_unlock(&old_wb->list_lock)
                                    wb_put_many(old_wb, nr_switched)
                                      cgwb_release
                                      old wb released
  wb_wakeup_delayed() accesses wb,
  then trigger the use-after-free
  issue

Fix this race condition by holding inode spinlock until
wb_wakeup_delayed() finished.

Statement: A race condition in __mark_inode_dirty() could lead to a use-after-free when the inode’s writeback structure (bdi_writeback) is being switched concurrently by another thread. The bug may result in a kernel crash (DoS) under heavy I/O or writeback migration workloads.
The vulnerability can only be triggered through actions involving inode writeback switching and cgroup writeback management, which require elevated privileges (CAP_SYS_ADMIN).
The CIA impact vector (H/H/H) represents a conservative worst-case scenario, assuming the use-after-free could be exploited to execute arbitrary code in kernel context. In practice, due to the limited control over memory and the need for privileged access, a more realistic assessment is CIA: N/N/H, reflecting potential system instability or denial of service rather than full compromise.

Affected upstream versions: 4.2
Fixed upstream versions: 0, 5.10.247, 5.15.192, 6.1.151, 6.12.46, 6.16.6, 6.17, 6.6.105
Upstream repository: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git
Upstream fix commit: e2a14bbae5d8bacaa301362744a110e2be40a3a3