Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-89786

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix out-of-bounds read in ext4_read_inline_dir() ext4_read_inline_dir() can read a dirent header past the end of its inline buffer, triggering a slab-out-of-bounds read during getdents64(): BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in __ext4_check_dir_entry Read of size 2 at addr ffff88800f3dd23c by task exploit/148 ... __ext4_check_dir_entry ext4_read_inline_dir iterate_dir The dirent payload lives in a buffer of exactly inline_size bytes: dir_buf = kmalloc(inline_size, GFP_NOFS); but iteration runs in a position space extra_offset bytes larger (extra_size = extra_offset + inline_size) so the synthetic "." and ".." land at their block-dir offsets. A dirent is formed at "dir_buf + pos - extra_offset", yet the ext4_check_dir_entry() length argument uses the larger extra_size. A position whose dirent header would extend past extra_size is therefore accepted, and the rescan loop's rec_len probe and ext4_check_dir_entry() dereference de->rec_len before the entry is rejected. Reject a position whose minimum-size dirent header would not fit within extra_size before forming de, in both the rescan and main loops, and pass inline_size rather than extra_size to ext4_check_dir_entry() so the length check matches the physical buffer.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.1 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H.

Affected products

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-89786?
CVE-2026-89786 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2026-09-16.
How severe is CVE-2026-89786?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.