kernel 3.13.0-157 breaks ext2/ext3 filesystem with non-zero stride setting and block size less than 4096

[Ludovico Cavedon]

Kernel 3.13.0-157 causes errors writing to an ext2 or ext3 filesystem with a non-zero stride setting.
The issue does not happen with kernel 3.13.0-155.

Steps to reproduce:

root@manager:~# mkdir mnt
root@manager:~# dd if=/dev/zero of=file.img bs=1MB count=32
[...]
root@manager:~# mke2fs -E stride=256 file.img
[...]
root@manager:~# mount -o loop file.img mnt/
root@manager:~# dd if=/dev/zero of=mnt/bigfile bs=1MB count=20
dd: error writing ‘mnt/bigfile’: No space left on device
16+0 records in
15+0 records out
15937536 bytes (16 MB) copied, 0.0780797 s, 204 MB/s
root@manager:~# df -h
[...]
/dev/loop0 30M 16M 13M 56% /root/mnt

The relevant lines from syslog are:
Sep 4 23:16:40 manager kernel: [ 2385.432802] EXT4-fs (loop0): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
Sep 4 23:19:22 manager kernel: [ 2546.581246] EXT4-fs (loop0): mounting ext2 file system using the ext4 subsystem
Sep 4 23:19:22 manager kernel: [ 2546.581610] EXT4-fs (loop0): mounted filesystem without journal. Opts: (null)
Sep 4 23:19:26 manager kernel: [ 2550.695870] EXT4-fs error (device loop0): ext4_validate_block_bitmap:376: comm dd: bg 3: block 25714: invalid block bitmap
Sep 4 23:19:26 manager kernel: [ 2550.720622] EXT4-fs error (device loop0): ext4_validate_block_bitmap:376: comm dd: bg 3: block 25714: invalid block bitmap
Sep 4 23:19:26 manager kernel: [ 2550.723530] EXT4-fs error (device loop0): ext4_validate_block_bitmap:376: comm dd: bg 3: block 25714: invalid block bitmap
[...]

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: linux-image-3.13.0-157-generic 3.13.0-157.207
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-157.207-generic 3.13.11-ckt39
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-157-generic x86_64
AlsaDevices:
 total 0
 crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 1 Sep 4 22:37 seq
 crw-rw---- 1 root audio 116, 33 Sep 4 22:37 timer
AplayDevices: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'aplay'
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.29
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'arecord'
AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/snd/seq', '/dev/snd/timer'] failed with exit code 1:
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'iw'
Date: Tue Sep 4 23:07:52 2018
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=025ae749-5b92-41f8-9ae8-fa27251e7e49
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-09-26 (1804 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 12.04.1 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120817.3)
IwConfig: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'iwconfig'
PciMultimedia:

ProcFB: 0 VESA VGA
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.13.0-157-generic root=/dev/mapper/hostname--pro-root ro nosplash nomodeset ipv6.disable=0
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.13.0-157-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.13.0-157-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.127.24
RfKill: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'rfkill'
SourcePackage: linux
StagingDrivers: bpctl_mod
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2018-04-17 (140 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 07/10/2014
dmi.bios.version: 2.3.3
dmi.board.name: 0R5KP9
dmi.board.version: A04
dmi.chassis.type: 23
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvn:bvr2.3.3:bd07/10/2014:svn:pn:pvr:rvn:rn0R5KP9:rvrA04:cvn:ct23:cvr:

[Ludovico Cavedon (cavedon)]

I was able to reproduce this issue on multiple hosts.

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Ludovico Cavedon (cavedon)]

The problem seems to happen only if the ext2 block size is 1024, which seems to be the default for a filesystem smaller than 537 MB.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the proposed kernel and post back if it resolves this bug?
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed.

Thank you in advance!

[Ludovico Cavedon (cavedon)]

I tested with 3.13.0-158-generic (from proposed updates) and the problem persists, like for 13.0-157-generic .
It does not happen with 3.13.0-155.