[PATCH] ext4: fix fast commit replay failing on a read-only mount

From: Hsiu-Hsien Lee

Date: Wed Aug 12 2026 - 00:44:39 EST


A filesystem with fast_commit that needs recovery cannot be mounted
read-only:

EXT4-fs (dm-0): INFO: recovery required on readonly filesystem
EXT4-fs (dm-0): write access will be enabled during recovery
WARNING: CPU: 22 PID: 5544 at fs/ext4/ext4_jbd2.c:73
ext4_journal_check_start
__ext4_journal_start_sb
__ext4_unlink
ext4_fc_replay
do_one_pass
jbd2_journal_recover
jbd2_journal_load
__ext4_fill_super
JBD2: journal recovery failed
EXT4-fs (dm-0): error loading journal

Fast commit replay runs ext4 metadata operations instead of writing
blocks through the buffer cache: ext4_fc_replay_{unlink,link,create}()
reach __ext4_unlink() and __ext4_link(), which start a handle.
ext4_journal_check_start() returns -EROFS on a read-only sb, and as
that is not -ENOENT it propagates out of jbd2_journal_recover() and
kills the whole recovery. The EXT4_FC_REPLAY check that would hand
out a no-journal handle sits after the sb_rdonly() test, so replay can
never complete read-only.

ext4_load_journal() has already promised that write access will be
enabled during recovery, so make that true for the superblock as well:
clear SB_RDONLY across jbd2_journal_load() when recovery is needed on a
read-only mount and the devices are writable, as ext4_orphan_cleanup()
does. Unlike ext4_handle_error(), which avoids SB_RDONLY because it
would need s_umount, the sb here is still inside ext4_fill_super() and
not published, so nothing can observe it.

The failure is not clean either: the replay handlers passing a NULL
handle (ext4_fc_replay_inode(), _add_range(), _del_range()) never hit
ext4_journal_check_start() and do write, leaving a partially applied
fast commit behind.

Reproducer, where the unlink only ever reaches the fast commit area:

mke2fs -q -F -t ext4 -O fast_commit -b 4096 /dev/sdb3 262144
mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt
dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/victim bs=4k count=1 conv=fsync
sync # victim now in a full commit
rm /mnt/victim
dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/trigger bs=4k count=1 conv=fsync
<crash, or snapshot the device while mounted and write it back>
mount -o ro /dev/sdb3 /mnt

Without this patch that mount fails; with it recovery completes and
victim is gone, i.e. the UNLINK record was really replayed.

Fixes: 8016e29f4362 ("ext4: fast commit recovery path")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Hsiu-Hsien Lee <swinds24@xxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/ext4/super.c | 14 ++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 14 insertions(+)

diff --git a/fs/ext4/super.c b/fs/ext4/super.c
index 245f67d10ded..6c2b275a9cf3 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/super.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/super.c
@@ -6096,6 +6096,7 @@ static int ext4_load_journal(struct super_block *sb,
int err = 0;
int really_read_only;
int journal_dev_ro;
+ bool enable_write = false;

if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!ext4_has_feature_journal(sb)))
return -EFSCORRUPTED;
@@ -6152,6 +6153,7 @@ static int ext4_load_journal(struct super_block *sb,
}
ext4_msg(sb, KERN_INFO, "write access will "
"be enabled during recovery");
+ enable_write = true;
}
}

@@ -6168,7 +6170,19 @@ static int ext4_load_journal(struct super_block *sb,
if (save)
memcpy(save, ((char *) es) +
EXT4_S_ERR_START, EXT4_S_ERR_LEN);
+ /*
+ * Fast commit replay performs regular ext4 metadata updates
+ * (see ext4_fc_replay()) which refuse to run on a read-only
+ * superblock. We promised write access above, so make that
+ * true for the duration of the recovery, the same way
+ * ext4_orphan_cleanup() does. The superblock is not published
+ * yet, so nothing can observe the transient state.
+ */
+ if (enable_write)
+ sb->s_flags &= ~SB_RDONLY;
err = jbd2_journal_load(journal);
+ if (enable_write)
+ sb->s_flags |= SB_RDONLY;
if (save && memcmp(((char *) es) + EXT4_S_ERR_START,
save, EXT4_S_ERR_LEN)) {
memcpy(((char *) es) + EXT4_S_ERR_START,
--
2.43.0