ocfs2: reject dinodes with non-canonical i_mode type
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ocfs2: reject dinodes with non-canonical i_mode type Patch series "ocfs2: harden inode validators against forged metadata", v2. This series adds three structural checks to OCFS2 dinode validation so malformed on-disk fields are rejected before ocfs2_populate_inode() copies them into the in-core inode. The checks cover: - i_mode values whose type bits do not name a canonical POSIX file type; - non-device dinodes whose id1.dev1.i_rdev field is non-zero; and - non-inline dinodes that claim non-zero i_size while i_clusters is zero, covering directories unconditionally and regular files on non-sparse volumes. The normal read path reports these through ocfs2_error(), matching the existing suballoc-slot, inline-data, chain-list, and refcount checks. The online filecheck path uses the same structural predicates but keeps its own reporting contract, returning OCFS2_FILECHECK_ERR_INVALIDINO instead of calling ocfs2_error(). This patch (of 3): ocfs2_validate_inode_block() currently accepts any non-zero i_mode value. ocfs2_populate_inode() then copies that mode verbatim into inode->i_mode and dispatches on i_mode & S_IFMT to the file/dir/symlink/special_file iops; an unrecognised type falls through to ocfs2_special_file_iops and init_special_inode(). Reject dinodes whose type bits do not name one of the seven canonical POSIX file types. Use fs_umode_to_ftype(), the same generic file-type conversion helper OCFS2 already uses for directory entries, so the accepted inode type set matches the kernel file-type vocabulary instead of open-coding a local switch. Apply the same structural check to the online filecheck read path. filecheck keeps its own error namespace, so it reports malformed i_mode through the filecheck logger and OCFS2_FILECHECK_ERR_INVALIDINO instead of calling ocfs2_error(), but it must not allow a malformed dinode to proceed into ocfs2_populate_inode().
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 2.6.29 and later | 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 2.6.29 and later Fixed in 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2 Patch available CNA
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 5 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-72160
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-42g7-hf2f-vfr8
- 2026-10-14 EPSS moved to the below the 50th percentile
- 2026-10-16 EPSS moved to the 50th–90th percentile
- 2026-10-16 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-10-16 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2e3aac33988ef4e4170141db8e995693ea38357c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fb024ea29f6cb1f01745e5f2e31646f3acb9aa6f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/157d31ef45038d89cd19620105e082d43c8e41e0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a5b555bcabbb0aff8745ad181768eaf9d964c1ee
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/82afe13558354390d8a592a5334d5f4fd72c0e5c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4db3b6a2a8ecf2a89d26a4090ace4072c6fad050
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b858f2d57cfc9d57ce61b86051d603dc0ebccd40
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5366a017099c6a3c443be908a05f26fd72af12a1
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Sources
- CVE-2026-72160 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-72160 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-42g7-hf2f-vfr8 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-72160 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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