[PATCH v2] ext4: synchronize free block counter when detecting corruption

Albin Babu Varghese
2025-10-10T07:38:22Z

When ext4_mb_generate_buddy() detects block group descriptor
corruption (free block count mismatch between descriptor and
bitmap), it corrects the in-memory group descriptor (grp->bb_free)
but does not synchronize the percpu free clusters counter.

This causes delayed allocation to read stale counter values when
checking for available space. The allocator believes space is
available based on the stale counter, makes reservation promises,
but later fails during writeback when trying to allocate actual
blocks from the bitmap. This results in "Delayed block allocation
failed" errors and potential system crashes.

Fix by updating the percpu counter with the correction delta when
corruption is detected:

s64 correction = (s64)free - (s64)grp->bb_free;
grp->bb_free = free;
percpu_counter_add(&sbi->s_freeclusters_counter, correction);

This ensures the global counter stays synchronized with the
corrected group descriptor, preventing false promises and crashes.

Reported-by: syzbot+f3185be57d7e8dda32b8@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=f3185be57d7e8dda32b8
Tested-by: syzbot+f3185be57d7e8dda32b8@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Co-developed-by: Ahmet Eray Karadag <eraykrdg1@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Ahmet Eray Karadag <eraykrdg1@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Albin Babu Varghese <albinbabuvarghese20@gmail.com>
---
Changes in v2:
- v1 added bounds checking in ext4_write_inline_data_end() to reject
writes beyond inline capacity
- v2 fixes the root cause by synchronizing the percpu free clusters
counter when corruption is detected in ext4_mb_generate_buddy()
- Addresses review feedback from Ted Ts'o and Darrick Wong
Link to v1:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20251007234221.28643-2-eraykrdg1@gmail.com/T/
---
fs/ext4/mballoc.c | 3 +++
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
index 9087183602e4..956e5fa307ca 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
@@ -1290,8 +1290,11 @@ void ext4_mb_generate_buddy(struct super_block *sb,
/*
* If we intend to continue, we consider group descriptor
* corrupt and update bb_free using bitmap value
+ * Also update the global free clusters counter to stay in sync.
*/
+ s64 correction = (s64)free - (s64)grp->bb_free;
grp->bb_free = free;
+ percpu_counter_add(&sbi->s_freeclusters_counter, correction);
ext4_mark_group_bitmap_corrupted(sb, group,
EXT4_GROUP_INFO_BBITMAP_CORRUPT);
}
--
2.51.0