CVE-2022-50436 | ext4: don't set up encryption key during jbd2 transaction

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: don't set up encryption key during jbd2 transaction Commit a80f7fcf1867 ("ext4: fixup ext4_fc_track_* functions' signature") extended the scope of the transaction in ext4_unlink() too far, making it include the call to ext4_find_entry(). However, ext4_find_entry() can deadlock when called from within a transaction because it may need to set up the directory's encryption key. Fix this by restoring the transaction to its original scope.

Published: 2025-10-01 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-50436 is rated Low Risk (22.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.09%). 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-2022-50436

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 2026-06-15 0.01% 0.09% +0.08%
2 2025-10-01 0.01%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-50436

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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-50436

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-50436

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-50436 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-2022-50436
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50436
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-50436/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-50436 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 158, not-affected 126, released 112, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-50436

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-50436

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.10.1, < 5.10.163 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.87 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.0.18 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.1, < 6.1.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.10 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.10:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.10 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.10:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.10 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.10:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.10 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.10:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.10 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.10:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-50436

cvelogic Threat Intelligence