Re: [Kernel Bug] KASAN: slab-use-after-free Read in filemap_free_folio

Re: [Kernel Bug] KASAN: slab-use-after-free Read in filemap_free_folio

[Matthew Wilcox]

On Mon, Feb 02, 2026 at 02:20:50PM +0800, 李龙兴 wrote:
> Dear Linux kernel developers and maintainers,
> 
> We would like to report a new kernel bug found by our tool. KASAN:

Don't be syzbot.  Get your changes into syzkaller upstream and let
syzbot do its thing.

> Allocated by task 49607:
>  kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 mm/kasan/common.c:56
>  kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/common.c:77
>  unpoison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:342 [inline]
>  __kasan_slab_alloc+0x89/0x90 mm/kasan/common.c:368
>  kasan_slab_alloc include/linux/kasan.h:252 [inline]
>  slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4978 [inline]
>  slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:5288 [inline]
>  kmem_cache_alloc_lru_noprof+0x254/0x6e0 mm/slub.c:5307
>  ext4_alloc_inode+0x28/0x610 fs/ext4/super.c:1393

I'd suggest this is an ext4 problem, not a pagecache problem.

syzbot has good heuristics for this kind of thing now.  You don't.

Re: [Kernel Bug] KASAN: slab-use-after-free Read in filemap_free_folio

[Longxing Li]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 13381 bytes --]

Dear maintainers,

I'm trying to fix this issue. The bug analysis and patch fix are as follows.
========================================================
Bug Summary

ext4_add_complete_io() queues i_rsv_conversion_work without holding an
extra inode reference. If the inode is unlinked & evicted before the
delayed work runs, ext4_do_flush_completed_IO() accesses a freed inode —
use-after-free.

========================================================
Fix

Take igrab(inode) when first queueing the work (detected via
list_empty check), and iput() after processing in
ext4_do_flush_completed_IO(). A per-inode bit (i_rsv_need_iput) tracks
whether the reference was taken.

Changes:
  fs/ext4/ext4.h      - add i_rsv_need_iput bit to struct ext4_inode_info
  fs/ext4/super.c     - init the bit to 0 in ext4_alloc_inode()
  fs/ext4/page-io.c   - igrab() before queue_work, iput() after flush

Full patch is as follows and is attached in the link.

Best regards,
Longxing Li

========================================================
Patch: (Standard format patch Please see atachment and the link after
this chunk.)
From: Longxing Li <coregee2000@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026
Subject: [PATCH] ext4: fix use-after-free in ext4 delayed I/O completion

ext4_add_complete_io() queues the inode's i_rsv_conversion_work without
holding an extra reference to the inode. If the inode is unlinked and
evicted before the delayed work runs, the inode slab object is freed.
When ext4_do_flush_completed_IO() later accesses io_end->inode, it is
accessing a freed/reallocated object — a use-after-free detected by KASAN.

Fix: take an inode reference in ext4_add_complete_io() (when first queueing
the work), and drop it in ext4_do_flush_completed_IO() after processing
all io_ends. A per-inode flag tracks whether the extra reference was taken.

Signed-off-by: Longxing Li <coregee2000@gmail.com>
---

--- a/fs/ext4/ext4.h
+++ b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
@@ -1158,10 +1158,12 @@
 #endif
     spinlock_t i_block_reservation_lock;

     /* Lock protecting lists below */
     spinlock_t i_completed_io_lock;
+    /* Track if ext4_add_complete_io() took an extra inode reference. */
+    unsigned short i_rsv_need_iput:1;
     /*
      * Completed IOs that need unwritten extents handling and have
      * transaction reserved
      */
     struct list_head i_rsv_conversion_list;

--- a/fs/ext4/super.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/super.c
@@ -1414,10 +1414,11 @@
     memset(&ei->i_dquot, 0, sizeof(ei->i_dquot));
 #endif
     ei->jinode = NULL;
     INIT_LIST_HEAD(&ei->i_rsv_conversion_list);
     spin_lock_init(&ei->i_completed_io_lock);
+    ei->i_rsv_need_iput = 0;
     ei->i_sync_tid = 0;
     ei->i_datasync_tid = 0;
     INIT_WORK(&ei->i_rsv_conversion_work, ext4_end_io_rsv_work);
     ext4_fc_init_inode(&ei->vfs_inode);
     spin_lock_init(&ei->i_fc_lock);

--- a/fs/ext4/page-io.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/page-io.c
@@ -260,12 +260,16 @@
         !io_end->handle && sbi->s_journal);
     WARN_ON(!io_end->bio);

     spin_lock_irqsave(&ei->i_completed_io_lock, flags);
     wq = sbi->rsv_conversion_wq;
-    if (list_empty(&ei->i_rsv_conversion_list))
-        queue_work(wq, &ei->i_rsv_conversion_work);
+    if (list_empty(&ei->i_rsv_conversion_list)) {
+        if (igrab(io_end->inode)) {
+            ei->i_rsv_need_iput = 1;
+            queue_work(wq, &ei->i_rsv_conversion_work);
+        }
+    }
     list_add_tail(&io_end->list, &ei->i_rsv_conversion_list);
     spin_unlock_irqrestore(&ei->i_completed_io_lock, flags);
 }

 static int ext4_do_flush_completed_IO(struct inode *inode,
@@ -289,10 +293,17 @@

         err = ext4_end_io_end(io_end);
         if (unlikely(!ret && err))
             ret = err;
     }
+
+    /* Release inode reference from ext4_add_complete_io. */
+    if (ei->i_rsv_need_iput) {
+        ei->i_rsv_need_iput = 0;
+        iput(&ei->vfs_inode);
+    }
+
     return ret;
 }

 /*
  * Used to convert unwritten extents to written extents upon IO completion,

========================================================
Attachment:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rPdp91vPxDnc74LxOJcJV3juvWhRxUtR/view?usp=drive_link


==================================================================
Original Bug Report on Linux kernel v6.18.2:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in filemap_free_folio+0x147/0x170
mm/filemap.c:234
Read of size 8 at addr ffff88805e6535a8 by task kworker/u9:28/46327

CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 46327 Comm: kworker/u9:28 Not tainted 6.18.2 #1 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014
Workqueue: ext4-rsv-conversion ext4_end_io_rsv_work
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline]
 dump_stack_lvl+0x116/0x1f0 lib/dump_stack.c:120
 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline]
 print_report+0xcd/0x630 mm/kasan/report.c:482
 kasan_report+0xe0/0x110 mm/kasan/report.c:595
 filemap_free_folio+0x147/0x170 mm/filemap.c:234
 folio_unmap_invalidate+0x514/0x850 mm/truncate.c:653
 filemap_end_dropbehind+0x17f/0x1d0 mm/filemap.c:1616
 folio_end_dropbehind mm/filemap.c:1637 [inline]
 folio_end_dropbehind+0xbe/0xe0 mm/filemap.c:1624
 folio_end_writeback+0xe4/0x1f0 mm/filemap.c:1695
 ext4_finish_bio+0x78f/0xa20 fs/ext4/page-io.c:144
 ext4_release_io_end+0x119/0x3a0 fs/ext4/page-io.c:159
 ext4_end_io_end+0x13e/0x4a0 fs/ext4/page-io.c:210
 ext4_do_flush_completed_IO fs/ext4/page-io.c:290 [inline]
 ext4_end_io_rsv_work+0x205/0x380 fs/ext4/page-io.c:305
 process_one_work+0x9cf/0x1b70 kernel/workqueue.c:3263
 process_scheduled_works kernel/workqueue.c:3346 [inline]
 worker_thread+0x6c8/0xf10 kernel/workqueue.c:3427
 kthread+0x3c5/0x780 kernel/kthread.c:463
 ret_from_fork+0x675/0x7d0 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
 </TASK>

Allocated by task 49607:
 kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 mm/kasan/common.c:56
 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/common.c:77
 unpoison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:342 [inline]
 __kasan_slab_alloc+0x89/0x90 mm/kasan/common.c:368
 kasan_slab_alloc include/linux/kasan.h:252 [inline]
 slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4978 [inline]
 slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:5288 [inline]
 kmem_cache_alloc_lru_noprof+0x254/0x6e0 mm/slub.c:5307
 ext4_alloc_inode+0x28/0x610 fs/ext4/super.c:1393
 alloc_inode+0x64/0x240 fs/inode.c:346
 new_inode+0x22/0x1c0 fs/inode.c:1145
 __ext4_new_inode+0x392/0x4f00 fs/ext4/ialloc.c:961
 ext4_create+0x303/0x550 fs/ext4/namei.c:2822
 lookup_open.isra.0+0x11d3/0x1580 fs/namei.c:3796
 open_last_lookups fs/namei.c:3895 [inline]
 path_openat+0x893/0x2cb0 fs/namei.c:4131
 do_filp_open+0x20b/0x470 fs/namei.c:4161
 do_sys_openat2+0x11b/0x1d0 fs/open.c:1437
 do_sys_open fs/open.c:1452 [inline]
 __do_sys_openat fs/open.c:1468 [inline]
 __se_sys_openat fs/open.c:1463 [inline]
 __x64_sys_openat+0x174/0x210 fs/open.c:1463
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0xcd/0xfa0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Freed by task 49611:
 kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 mm/kasan/common.c:56
 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/common.c:77
 __kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x60 mm/kasan/generic.c:587
 kasan_save_free_info mm/kasan/kasan.h:406 [inline]
 poison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:252 [inline]
 __kasan_slab_free+0x5f/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:284
 kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:234 [inline]
 slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:2543 [inline]
 slab_free mm/slub.c:6642 [inline]
 kmem_cache_free+0x2d4/0x6c0 mm/slub.c:6752
 i_callback+0x46/0x70 fs/inode.c:325
 rcu_do_batch kernel/rcu/tree.c:2605 [inline]
 rcu_core+0x79c/0x1530 kernel/rcu/tree.c:2861
 handle_softirqs+0x219/0x8e0 kernel/softirq.c:622
 __do_softirq kernel/softirq.c:656 [inline]
 invoke_softirq kernel/softirq.c:496 [inline]
 __irq_exit_rcu+0x109/0x170 kernel/softirq.c:723
 irq_exit_rcu+0x9/0x30 kernel/softirq.c:739
 instr_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1052 [inline]
 sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0xa4/0xc0 arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1052
 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x1a/0x20 arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:697

Last potentially related work creation:
 kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 mm/kasan/common.c:56
 kasan_record_aux_stack+0xa7/0xc0 mm/kasan/generic.c:559
 __call_rcu_common.constprop.0+0xa5/0xa10 kernel/rcu/tree.c:3123
 destroy_inode+0x12c/0x1b0 fs/inode.c:401
 evict+0x5b4/0x920 fs/inode.c:834
 iput_final fs/inode.c:1914 [inline]
 iput.part.0+0x6a9/0xb00 fs/inode.c:1966
 iput+0x35/0x40 fs/inode.c:1929
 do_unlinkat+0x518/0x6a0 fs/namei.c:4744
 __do_sys_unlink fs/namei.c:4783 [inline]
 __se_sys_unlink fs/namei.c:4781 [inline]
 __x64_sys_unlink+0xc5/0x110 fs/namei.c:4781
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0xcd/0xfa0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Second to last potentially related work creation:
 kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 mm/kasan/common.c:56
 kasan_record_aux_stack+0xa7/0xc0 mm/kasan/generic.c:559
 insert_work+0x36/0x230 kernel/workqueue.c:2186
 __queue_work+0x97e/0x1160 kernel/workqueue.c:2341
 queue_work_on+0x15f/0x1f0 kernel/workqueue.c:2392
 queue_work include/linux/workqueue.h:669 [inline]
 ext4_add_complete_io fs/ext4/page-io.c:266 [inline]
 ext4_put_io_end_defer fs/ext4/page-io.c:325 [inline]
 ext4_put_io_end_defer+0x398/0x460 fs/ext4/page-io.c:321
 ext4_end_bio+0x2bc/0x580 fs/ext4/page-io.c:385
 bio_endio+0x713/0x860 block/bio.c:1672
 blk_update_request+0x93e/0x15f0 block/blk-mq.c:999
 scsi_end_request+0x7c/0x9c0 drivers/scsi/scsi_lib.c:637
 scsi_io_completion+0x17d/0x14c0 drivers/scsi/scsi_lib.c:1078
 scsi_complete+0x124/0x250 drivers/scsi/scsi_lib.c:1547
 blk_complete_reqs+0xb1/0xf0 block/blk-mq.c:1236
 handle_softirqs+0x219/0x8e0 kernel/softirq.c:622
 __do_softirq kernel/softirq.c:656 [inline]
 invoke_softirq kernel/softirq.c:496 [inline]
 __irq_exit_rcu+0x109/0x170 kernel/softirq.c:723
 irq_exit_rcu+0x9/0x30 kernel/softirq.c:739
 instr_sysvec_call_function_single arch/x86/kernel/smp.c:266 [inline]
 sysvec_call_function_single+0x57/0xc0 arch/x86/kernel/smp.c:266
 asm_sysvec_call_function_single+0x1a/0x20 arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:704

The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff88805e652fd0
 which belongs to the cache ext4_inode_cache of size 2320
The buggy address is located 1496 bytes inside of
 freed 2320-byte region [ffff88805e652fd0, ffff88805e6538e0)

The buggy address belongs to the physical page:
page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x5e650
head: order:3 mapcount:0 entire_mapcount:0 nr_pages_mapped:0 pincount:0
memcg:ffff8880268b4801
flags: 0xfff00000000040(head|node=0|zone=1|lastcpupid=0x7ff)
page_type: f5(slab)
raw: 00fff00000000040 ffff888101bc3a00 ffffea0001822400 dead000000000002
raw: 0000000000000000 00000000000d000d 00000000f5000000 ffff8880268b4801
head: 00fff00000000040 ffff888101bc3a00 ffffea0001822400 dead000000000002
head: 0000000000000000 00000000000d000d 00000000f5000000 ffff8880268b4801
head: 00fff00000000003 ffffea0001799401 00000000ffffffff 00000000ffffffff
head: ffffffffffffffff 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000008
page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected
page_owner tracks the page as allocated
page last allocated via order 3, migratetype Reclaimable, gfp_mask
0xd2050(__GFP_RECLAIMABLE|__GFP_IO|__GFP_NOWARN|__GFP_NORETRY|__GFP_COMP|__GFP_NOMEMALLOC),
pid 15633, tgid 15633 (syz-executor.7), ts 460463106471, free_ts 0
 set_page_owner include/linux/page_owner.h:32 [inline]
 post_alloc_hook+0x1af/0x220 mm/page_alloc.c:1845
 prep_new_page mm/page_alloc.c:1853 [inline]
 get_page_from_freelist+0x10a3/0x3a30 mm/page_alloc.c:3879
 __alloc_frozen_pages_noprof+0x25f/0x2470 mm/page_alloc.c:5178
 alloc_pages_mpol+0x1fb/0x550 mm/mempolicy.c:2416
 alloc_slab_page mm/slub.c:3059 [inline]
 allocate_slab mm/slub.c:3232 [inline]
 new_slab+0x24a/0x360 mm/slub.c:3286
 ___slab_alloc+0xd79/0x1a50 mm/slub.c:4655
 __slab_alloc.constprop.0+0x63/0x110 mm/slub.c:4778
 __slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4854 [inline]
 slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:5276 [inline]
 kmem_cache_alloc_lru_noprof+0x443/0x6e0 mm/slub.c:5307
 ext4_alloc_inode+0x28/0x610 fs/ext4/super.c:1393
 alloc_inode+0x64/0x240 fs/inode.c:346
 new_inode+0x22/0x1c0 fs/inode.c:1145
 __ext4_new_inode+0x392/0x4f00 fs/ext4/ialloc.c:961
 ext4_symlink+0x462/0xde0 fs/ext4/namei.c:3388
 vfs_symlink fs/namei.c:4817 [inline]
 vfs_symlink+0x403/0x680 fs/namei.c:4801
 do_symlinkat+0x261/0x310 fs/namei.c:4843
 __do_sys_symlinkat fs/namei.c:4859 [inline]
 __se_sys_symlinkat fs/namei.c:4856 [inline]
 __x64_sys_symlinkat+0x93/0xc0 fs/namei.c:4856
page_owner free stack trace missing

Memory state around the buggy address:
 ffff88805e653480: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb
 ffff88805e653500: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb
>ffff88805e653580: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb
                                  ^
 ffff88805e653600: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb
 ffff88805e653680: fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb fb
==================================================================

[-- Attachment #2: bug-fix.patch.txt --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 2705 bytes --]

From: Longxing Li <coregee2000@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026
Subject: [PATCH] ext4: fix use-after-free in ext4 delayed I/O completion

ext4_add_complete_io() queues the inode's i_rsv_conversion_work without
holding an extra reference to the inode. If the inode is unlinked and
evicted before the delayed work runs, the inode slab object is freed.
When ext4_do_flush_completed_IO() later accesses io_end->inode, it is
accessing a freed/reallocated object — a use-after-free detected by KASAN.

Fix: take an inode reference in ext4_add_complete_io() (when first queueing
the work), and drop it in ext4_do_flush_completed_IO() after processing
all io_ends. A per-inode flag tracks whether the extra reference was taken.

Reported-by: syzkaller
Signed-off-by: Longxing Li <coregee2000@gmail.com>
---

--- a/fs/ext4/ext4.h
+++ b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
@@ -1158,10 +1158,12 @@
 #endif
 	spinlock_t i_block_reservation_lock;
 
 	/* Lock protecting lists below */
 	spinlock_t i_completed_io_lock;
+	/* Track if ext4_add_complete_io() took an extra inode reference. */
+	unsigned short i_rsv_need_iput:1;
 	/*
 	 * Completed IOs that need unwritten extents handling and have
 	 * transaction reserved
 	 */
 	struct list_head i_rsv_conversion_list;

--- a/fs/ext4/super.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/super.c
@@ -1414,10 +1414,11 @@
 	memset(&ei->i_dquot, 0, sizeof(ei->i_dquot));
 #endif
 	ei->jinode = NULL;
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&ei->i_rsv_conversion_list);
 	spin_lock_init(&ei->i_completed_io_lock);
+	ei->i_rsv_need_iput = 0;
 	ei->i_sync_tid = 0;
 	ei->i_datasync_tid = 0;
 	INIT_WORK(&ei->i_rsv_conversion_work, ext4_end_io_rsv_work);
 	ext4_fc_init_inode(&ei->vfs_inode);
 	spin_lock_init(&ei->i_fc_lock);

--- a/fs/ext4/page-io.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/page-io.c
@@ -260,12 +260,16 @@
 		!io_end->handle && sbi->s_journal);
 	WARN_ON(!io_end->bio);
 
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&ei->i_completed_io_lock, flags);
 	wq = sbi->rsv_conversion_wq;
-	if (list_empty(&ei->i_rsv_conversion_list))
-		queue_work(wq, &ei->i_rsv_conversion_work);
+	if (list_empty(&ei->i_rsv_conversion_list)) {
+		if (igrab(io_end->inode)) {
+			ei->i_rsv_need_iput = 1;
+			queue_work(wq, &ei->i_rsv_conversion_work);
+		}
+	}
 	list_add_tail(&io_end->list, &ei->i_rsv_conversion_list);
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&ei->i_completed_io_lock, flags);
 }
 
 static int ext4_do_flush_completed_IO(struct inode *inode,
@@ -289,10 +293,17 @@
 
 		err = ext4_end_io_end(io_end);
 		if (unlikely(!ret && err))
 			ret = err;
 	}
+
+	/* Release inode reference from ext4_add_complete_io. */
+	if (ei->i_rsv_need_iput) {
+		ei->i_rsv_need_iput = 0;
+		iput(&ei->vfs_inode);
+	}
+
 	return ret;
 }
 
 /*
  * Used to convert unwritten extents to written extents upon IO completion,

Re: [Kernel Bug] KASAN: slab-use-after-free Read in filemap_free_folio

[Zhou, Yun]

Hi,

On 7/2/2026 3:59 PM, Longxing Li wrote:
> 
> Dear maintainers,
> 
> I'm trying to fix this issue. The bug analysis and patch fix are as follows.
> ========================================================
> Bug Summary
> 
> ext4_add_complete_io() queues i_rsv_conversion_work without holding an
> extra inode reference. If the inode is unlinked & evicted before the
> delayed work runs, ext4_do_flush_completed_IO() accesses a freed inode —
> use-after-free.
> 
> ========================================================
> Fix
> 
> Take igrab(inode) when first queueing the work (detected via
> list_empty check), and iput() after processing in
> ext4_do_flush_completed_IO(). A per-inode bit (i_rsv_need_iput) tracks
> whether the reference was taken.
> 
> Changes:
>    fs/ext4/ext4.h      - add i_rsv_need_iput bit to struct ext4_inode_info
>    fs/ext4/super.c     - init the bit to 0 in ext4_alloc_inode()
>    fs/ext4/page-io.c   - igrab() before queue_work, iput() after flush
> 
> Full patch is as follows and is attached in the link.
> 
Although I'm also a newbie, I should point out that the way you're 
sending the patch isn't quite right. You can just use the git send-email 
command directly.

For example:

git send-email --to tytso@mit.edu --to adilger.kernel@dilger.ca --to 
libaokun@linux.alibaba.com --to jack@suse.cz --to ojaswin@linux.ibm.com 
--to ritesh.list@gmail.com --to yi.zhang@huawei.com --cc 
linux-ext4@vger.kernel.org --cc linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org bug-fix.patch

If you're unsure which maintainers, reviewers, or mailing lists to send 
a patch to, you can use the ./scripts/get_maintainer.pl script in the 
source directory to find out.

Before sending, it's best to do thorough functional and regression 
testing. You should also run the ./scripts/checkpatch.pl script to check 
for any formatting issues in your patch. It's a good idea to read the 
documentation in the Documentation/process/ directory first.

No rush, take your time. Feel free to ask me if you have any more questions.

Yun