CVE-2022-50344 | ext4: fix null-ptr-deref in ext4_write_info

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix null-ptr-deref in ext4_write_info I caught a null-ptr-deref bug as follows: ================================================================== KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000068-0x000000000000006f] CPU: 1 PID: 1589 Comm: umount Not tainted 5.10.0-02219-dirty #339 RIP: 0010:ext4_write_info+0x53/0x1b0 [...] Call Trace: dquot_writeback_dquots+0x341/0x9a0 ext4_sync_fs+0x19e/0x800 __sync_filesystem+0x83/0x100 sync_filesystem+0x89/0xf0 generic_shutdown_super+0x79/0x3e0 kill_block_super+0xa1/0x110 deactivate_locked_super+0xac/0x130 deactivate_super+0xb6/0xd0 cleanup_mnt+0x289/0x400 __cleanup_mnt+0x16/0x20 task_work_run+0x11c/0x1c0 exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x203/0x210 syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x5b/0x3a0 do_syscall_64+0x59/0x70 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xa9 ================================================================== Above issue may happen as follows: ------------------------------------- exit_to_user_mode_prepare task_work_run __cleanup_mnt cleanup_mnt deactivate_super deactivate_locked_super kill_block_super generic_shutdown_super shrink_dcache_for_umount dentry = sb->s_root sb->s_root = NULL <--- Here set NULL sync_filesystem __sync_filesystem sb->s_op->sync_fs > ext4_sync_fs dquot_writeback_dquots sb->dq_op->write_info > ext4_write_info ext4_journal_start(d_inode(sb->s_root), EXT4_HT_QUOTA, 2) d_inode(sb->s_root) s_root->d_inode <--- Null pointer dereference To solve this problem, we use ext4_journal_start_sb directly to avoid s_root being used.

Published: 2025-09-16 Last update: 2026-01-14 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-50344 is rated Low Risk (24.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.03%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-50344

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-09-17 0.03%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-50344

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-50344

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-50344

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-50344 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-50344
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50344
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50344/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-50344 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 161, released 148, not-affected 82, needed 5, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-50344

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-50344

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel < 4.9.331 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.10, < 4.14.296 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.15, < 4.19.262 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 5.4.220 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.10.150 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.75 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 5.19.17 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.0, < 6.0.3 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-50344

cvelogic Threat Intelligence