[BUG] ext4: NULL/invalid pointer dereference in ext4_writepages() during generic/039

[Venkat Rao Bagalkote]

Hi,

I am  seeing a reproducible kernel crash while running xfstests 
generic/039 on powerpc.

The crash happens during ext4 journal recovery while mounting the
filesystem. The fault occurs inside ext4_writepages() and appears to
dereference a userspace-looking address.

Test environment
----------------
Kernel:
  7.2.0-rc5-next-20260731

Architecture:
  powerpc64le

Platform:
  IBM Power9 (pSeries)

Machine:
  IBM,8375-42A
  FW950.80 (VL950_131)

Config highlights:
  PAGE_SIZE=64K
  MMU=Hash
  PREEMPTLAZY=y

Workload
--------
xfstests generic/039

Log excerpt:
  run fstests generic/039 at 2026-08-03 00:22:44

Crash
-----
[  615.063689] Kernel attempted to read user page (fe73f0000) - exploit 
attempt? (uid: 0)
[  615.063714] BUG: Unable to handle kernel data access on read at 
0xfe73f0000
[  615.063723] Faulting instruction address: 0xc008000015b0ed24
[  615.063731] Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]

The faulting instruction is:

  ext4_writepages+0x12c/0x3a0

Relevant call trace:

  ext4_writepages
  do_writepages
  __writeback_single_inode
  writeback_single_inode
  write_inode_now
  iput_final
  ext4_fc_replay
  do_one_pass
  jbd2_journal_recover
  jbd2_journal_load
  ext4_load_journal
  ext4_load_and_init_journal
  __ext4_fill_super
  ext4_fill_super
  get_tree_bdev_flags
  ext4_get_tree
  vfs_get_tree
  vfs_cmd_create
  __do_sys_fsconfig

Full trace:

[  615.064100] NIP [c008000015b0ed24] ext4_writepages+0x12c/0x3a0 [ext4]
[  615.064360] Call Trace:
[  615.064383] do_writepages+0x190/0x330
[  615.064395] __writeback_single_inode+0x9c/0x9e0
[  615.064411] writeback_single_inode+0x18c/0x2b0
[  615.064425] write_inode_now+0xc0/0x100
[  615.064439] iput_final+0x10c/0x300
[  615.064451] ext4_fc_replay+0x374/0xdd0 [ext4]
[  615.064583] do_one_pass+0x9bc/0x1370 [jbd2]
[  615.064627] jbd2_journal_recover[0x358/0x400 [jbd2]
[  [jbd2615.064670] jbd2_journal_load/0x110 [jbd2]
[  615.064712] ext4_load_journal+0x2a0/0xb00 [ext4]
[  615.064844] ext4_load_and_init_journal+0x6c/0x660 [ext4]
[  615.064976] __ext4_fill_super+0x20b0/0x23a0 [ext4]

Registers:

  DAR:   0x0000000fe73f0000
  DSISR: 0x40000000

The address being dereferenced (0xfe73f0000) looks like a userspace
address and triggers:

  "Kernel attempted to read user page - exploit attempt?"


Filesystem messages immediately prior to the crash:

[  614.718310] EXT4-fs (loop0): mounted filesystem 
ee09878a-da42-4d97-81ed-1b9616af2fb4 r/w with ordered data mode. Quota 
mode: journalled.
[  614.984409] EXT4-fs (dm-0): mounted filesystem 
b60397dc-c40f-4c75-bba9-bfc21f3a905a r/w with ordered data mode. Quota 
mode: journalled.
[  615.029979] EXT4-fs (dm-0): unmounting filesystem 
b60397dc-c40f-4c75-bba9-bfc21f3a905a.


Meanwhile, I will attempt bisection.

If you happen to fix this issue, please add below tag.

Reported-by: Venkat Rao Bagalkote <venkat88@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>




Thanks,
Venkat.