[PATCH] ext4: don't read past the UAPI struct in EXT4_IOC_GROUP_ADD

From: MarkLee131

Date: Thu Sep 17 2026 - 13:09:38 EST


From: Kaixuan Li <kaixuanli0131@xxxxxxxxx>

EXT4_IOC_GROUP_ADD casts the user pointer to struct ext4_new_group_input,
its UAPI type, but sizes the copy by struct ext4_new_group_data, the
internal type:

struct ext4_new_group_data input;

if (copy_from_user(&input, (struct ext4_new_group_input __user *)arg,
sizeof(input)))

The UAPI struct is 40 bytes, the internal one 48. A caller that follows
the UAPI and allocates 40 bytes gets 8 bytes read past its object, and the
ioctl returns EFAULT when those bytes are unmapped. The internal struct
has carried the extra fields since ext4 was split from ext3, so the copy
has always over-read the UAPI object.

The two extra fields are not used from this path: free_clusters_count is
overwritten by verify_group_input(), and mdata_blocks is used only by
ext4_resize_fs(), which builds its own group_data array. The compat path
already copies the six UAPI fields individually; the native path does not.

Copy the UAPI struct, then set the internal fields from it.

Reproducible on v6.12.9 and v7.2.4 by placing a 40-byte struct at the end
of a mapped page whose successor is unmapped: the ioctl returns EFAULT.

Signed-off-by: Kaixuan Li <kaixuanli0131@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Built fs/ext4/ioctl.o warning-free (W=1, x86_64 defconfig) and checkpatch-clean.
The bug (EFAULT on a conforming 40-byte object) was reproduced under QEMU on
v6.12.9 and v7.2.4; the fix itself was not runtime-tested.
fs/ext4/ioctl.c | 14 ++++++++++++--
1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/ext4/ioctl.c b/fs/ext4/ioctl.c
index c8387e6a2c6e..ea3cd8cdae25 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/ioctl.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/ioctl.c
@@ -1674,12 +1674,22 @@ static long __ext4_ioctl(struct file *filp, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
}

case EXT4_IOC_GROUP_ADD: {
+ struct ext4_new_group_input uinput;
struct ext4_new_group_data input;

- if (copy_from_user(&input, (struct ext4_new_group_input __user *)arg,
- sizeof(input)))
+ if (copy_from_user(&uinput,
+ (struct ext4_new_group_input __user *)arg,
+ sizeof(uinput)))
return -EFAULT;

+ memset(&input, 0, sizeof(input));
+ input.group = uinput.group;
+ input.block_bitmap = uinput.block_bitmap;
+ input.inode_bitmap = uinput.inode_bitmap;
+ input.inode_table = uinput.inode_table;
+ input.blocks_count = uinput.blocks_count;
+ input.reserved_blocks = uinput.reserved_blocks;
+
return ext4_ioctl_group_add(filp, &input);
}

--
2.34.1