CVE-2024-50229: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nilfs2: fix potential deadlock with newly created symlinks Syzbot reported that page

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nilfs2: fix potential deadlock with newly created symlinks Syzbot reported that page_symli

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nilfs2: fix potential deadlock with newly created symlinks Syzbot reported that page_symlink(), called by nilfs_symlink(), triggers memory reclamation involving the filesystem layer, which can result in circular lock dependencies among the reader/writer semaphore nilfs->ns_segctor_sem, s_writers percpu_rwsem (intwrite) and the fs_reclaim pseudo lock. This is because after commit 21fc61c73c39 ("don't put symlink bodies in pagecache into highmem"), the gfp flags of the page cache for symbolic links are overwritten to GFP_KERNEL via inode_nohighmem(). This is not a problem for symlinks read from the backing device, because the __GFP_FS flag is dropped after inode_nohighmem() is called. However, when a new symlink is created with nilfs_symlink(), the gfp flags remain overwritten to GFP_KERNEL. Then, memory allocation called from page_symlink() etc. triggers memory reclamation including the FS layer, which may call nilfs_evict_inode() or nilfs_dirty_inode(). And these can cause a deadlock if they are called while nilfs->ns_segctor_sem is held: Fix this issue by dropping the __GFP_FS flag from the page cache GFP

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.21%, higher than 10% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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