CVE-2026-45985
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: don't set EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT when splitting before submitting I/O When allocating blocks during within-EOF DIO and writeback with dioread_nolock enabled, EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_PRE_IO was set to split an existing large unwritten extent. However, EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT was set when calling ext4_split_convert_extents(), which may potentially result in stale data issues. Assume we have an unwritten extent, and then DIO writes the second half. [UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU] on-disk extent U: unwritten extent [UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU] extent status tree |<- ->| ----> dio write this range First, ext4_iomap_alloc() call ext4_map_blocks() with EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_PRE_IO, EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_UNWRIT_EXT and EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CREATE flags set. ext4_map_blocks() find this extent and call ext4_split_convert_extents() with EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT and the above flags set. Then, ext4_split_convert_extents() calls ext4_split_extent() with EXT4_EXT_MAY_ZEROOUT, EXT4_EXT_MARK_UNWRIT2 and EXT4_EXT_DATA_VALID2 flags set, and it calls ext4_split_extent_at() to split the second half with EXT4_EXT_DATA_VALID2, EXT4_EXT_MARK_UNWRIT1, EXT4_EXT_MAY_ZEROOUT and EXT4_EXT_MARK_UNWRIT2 flags set. However, ext4_split_extent_at() failed to insert extent since a temporary lack -ENOSPC. It zeroes out the first half but convert the entire on-disk extent to written since the EXT4_EXT_DATA_VALID2 flag set, but left the second half as unwritten in the extent status tree. [0000000000SSSSSS] data S: stale data, 0: zeroed [WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW] on-disk extent W: written extent [WWWWWWWWWWUUUUUU] extent status tree Finally, if the DIO failed to write data to the disk, the stale data in the second half will be exposed once the cached extent entry is gone. Fix this issue by not passing EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT when splitting an unwritten extent before submitting I/O, and make ext4_split_convert_extents() to zero out the entire extent range to zero for this case, and also mark the extent in the extent status tree for consistency.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
3.15
and later are affected. Fixed in
5.10.253,
5.15.203,
6.6.130,
6.12.77,
6.18.17,
6.19.4,
7.0
and their respective stable series.
References
The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-45985 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2698731d25823267c29190cb578da9296a0c0d7b
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2920ec61c98b9476781359f05b94da84e80f54d4
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/37555690f39f78ef69af347d9aff897e07445949
Frequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-45985?
CVE-2026-45985 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 3.15 onward and has been patched in 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.6.130 and others. CVE-2026-45985 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-45985?
Yes — CVE-2026-45985 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.6.130 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 3.15 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-45985 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2026-45985 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.