medium 5.5

CVE-2024-40972 json

ext4: do not create EA inode under buffer lock

published 2024-07-12 2 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2024-38769

cvss: 5.5; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.2%; EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 12%
public exploits: 0; none known

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

ext4_xattr_set_entry() creates new EA inodes while holding buffer lock on the external xattr block. This is problematic as it nests all the allocation locking (which acquires locks on other buffers) under the buffer lock. This can even deadlock when the filesystem is corrupted and e.g. quota file is setup to contain xattr block as data block. Move the allocation of EA inode out of ext4_xattr_set_entry() into the callers.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1 distros 6 links 4

Linux Linux 6.1.107, 6.6.47, 6.9.7, 6.10

debian ubuntu red hat suse almalinux rocky linux

linux Debian 12 6.1.112-1
linux Debian 14, Debian 13 6.9.7-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2024-40972

linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-44.44
linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1015.16
linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1014.16
linux-gke Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1010.13
linux-ibm Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1012.12
linux-azure Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1014.16
linux-raspi Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1011.12
linux-riscv Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-44.44.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2024-40972

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

kernel RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
rv RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
perf RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
rtla RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
bpftool RHEL 9 7.3.0-427.42.1.el9_4
libperf RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
kernel-rt RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
kernel-64k RHEL 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4

red hat advisories RHSA-2024:8617 RHSA-2024:7000 RHSA-2024:7001

kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-9.1
kernel-source-rt Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-9.1
kernel-source Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-18.1
kernel-default Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-18.1
kernel-kvmsmall Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-18.1
kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-17.1.1.51
kernel-rt Real Time Module 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.10.5.1
kernel-syms-rt Real Time Module 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.10.5.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:20028-1 SUSE-SU-2025:20008-1 SUSE-SU-2024:2973-1 SUSE-SU-2024:2947-1 SUSE-SU-2024:2939-1 SUSE-SU-2024:2896-1

kernel AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
rv AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
perf AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
rtla AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
bpftool AlmaLinux 9 7.3.0-427.42.1.el9_4
libperf AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
kernel-rt AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
kernel-64k AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4

almalinux advisories ALSA-2024:8617 ALSA-2024:7000 ALSA-2024:7001

kernel Rocky Linux 8 4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10
kernel Rocky Linux 9 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
kernel-rt Rocky Linux 8 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2024:7000 RLSA-2024:8617 RLSA-2024:7001

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2024-40972 updated 2026-11-07 cvss 4.1

kernel: ext4: do not create EA inode under buffer lock

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more
affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-core, kernel-rt-modules, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, kernel-rt-debug-core, +12 more
affected: workaround, no fix planned “Will not fix”
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) rv 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, perf 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, rtla 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-devel-matched 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-64k-devel-matched 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-debug-devel-matched 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, +6 more
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:8617
Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) perf 4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, kernel 4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, bpftool 4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, kernel-core 4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, kernel-tools 4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, python3-perf 4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, +15 more
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:7000
Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) bpftool 7.3.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-64k 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-core 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-tools 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, python3-perf 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, +28 more
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:8617
Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-553.22.1.el8_10
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:7000
Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 9) libperf 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:8617
Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-kvm 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, +4 more
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:7001

show 4 more

Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-kvm 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, +6 more
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:8617
Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-modules 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, kernel-rt-modules-extra 4.18.0-553.22.1.rt7.363.el8_10, +2 more
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:7001
Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-modules-core 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, kernel-rt-debug-modules 5.14.0-427.42.1.el9_4, +4 more
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2024:8617
Red Hat OpenShift AI 8 rhoai/odh-rhel8-operator v2.13.1-2, rhoai/odh-dashboard-rhel8 v2.13.1-1, rhoai/odh-modelmesh-rhel8 v2.13.1-1, rhoai/odh-operator-bundle v2.13.1-2, rhoai/odh-rhel8-operator v2.14.0-24, rhoai/odh-dashboard-rhel8 v2.14.0-11, +56 more
fixed: vendor fix RHBA-2024:8413

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 2 y ago (2024-09-10)

Exploit prediction

0.22% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 12% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.1	5.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

Linux Linux

Classification

Weakness

CWE-667 Improper Locking

Technology feeds

Linux kernel rss critical rss

References

Sources

CVE List CVE-2024-40972
NVD CVE-2024-40972

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary