CVE-2026-46169
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hfsplus: fix uninit-value by validating catalog record size Syzbot reported a KMSAN uninit-value issue in hfsplus_strcasecmp(). The root cause is that hfs_brec_read() doesn't validate that the on-disk record size matches the expected size for the record type being read. When mounting a corrupted filesystem, hfs_brec_read() may read less data than expected. For example, when reading a catalog thread record, the debug output showed: HFSPLUS_BREC_READ: rec_len=520, fd->entrylength=26 HFSPLUS_BREC_READ: WARNING - entrylength (26) < rec_len (520) - PARTIAL READ! hfs_brec_read() only validates that entrylength is not greater than the buffer size, but doesn't check if it's less than expected. It successfully reads 26 bytes into a 520-byte structure and returns success, leaving 494 bytes uninitialized. This uninitialized data in tmp.thread.nodeName then gets copied by hfsplus_cat_build_key_uni() and used by hfsplus_strcasecmp(), triggering the KMSAN warning when the uninitialized bytes are used as array indices in case_fold(). Fix by introducing hfsplus_brec_read_cat() wrapper that: 1. Calls hfs_brec_read() to read the data 2. Validates the record size based on the type field: - Fixed size for folder and file records - Variable size for thread records (depends on string length) 3. Returns -EIO if size doesn't match expected For thread records, check against HFSPLUS_MIN_THREAD_SZ before reading nodeName.length to avoid reading uninitialized data at call sites that don't zero-initialize the entry structure. Also initialize the tmp variable in hfsplus_find_cat() as defensive programming to ensure no uninitialized data even if validation is bypassed.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
2.6.12
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.6.140,
6.12.88,
6.18.30,
7.0.7,
7.1-rc1
and their respective stable series.
References
The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-46169 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/61a790974ff7e533acbceca06c7d02f22bf96d4d
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/93e8d613f1a01b6637f387cc93f184cf7fb881d6
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a420904450962a562ad053a41a53a27755021b48
Frequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-46169?
CVE-2026-46169 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 2.6.12 onward and has been patched in 6.6.140, 6.12.88, 6.18.30 and others. CVE-2026-46169 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-2026-46169?
Yes — CVE-2026-46169 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.6.140, 6.12.88, 6.18.30 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 2.6.12 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-46169 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2026-46169 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.