{"cve":"CVE-2026-98959","nvd":{"published":"2026-10-23T13:17:17.233","modified":"2026-10-24T14:16:49.307","status":"Received","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nbtrfs: fix xattr replace when multiple xattrs are packed in the same item\n\nIf we have a btrfs_dir_item item that packs multiple xattrs and then we\nreplace the value of one of them (with the setxattr(2) family of syscalls)\nwith another value of a different size, we end up not having a fully\ninitialized btrfs_dir_item, resulting in a corruption that the tree\nchecker will detect at extent buffer writeback time.\n\nThis is because in btrfs_setxattr() when we find a btrfs_dir_item with\nmultiple xattrs (due to the crc32c hash of their name being the same)\nwe delete one of the xattr items (btrfs_dir_item) and then insert a new\none, but the deletion and insertion results in shifting existing data in\nthe leaf and therefore when the new value of a xattr has a different size,\nthe new btrfs_dir_item is placed in a leaf section that was not\ninitialized and we only copy the value's data and set the value's length\nin the new btrfs_dir_item, without setting the name, the name's length,\nthe key (which must be all zeroes for xattrs), flags (BTRFS_FT_XATTR) and\ntransaction ID.\n\nThe following script reproduces the issue:\n\n  $ cat test.sh\n  #!/bin/bash\n\n  DEV=/dev/sdi\n  MNT=/mnt/sdi\n\n  mkfs.btrfs -f $DEV\n  mount $DEV $MNT\n\n  touch $MNT/testfile\n\n  # Add two xattrs that, on btrfs, have the same hash (crc32c) for their\n  # name and therefore are packed into the same btrfs_dir_item.\n  setfattr -n user.foobar -v 123 $MNT/testfile\n  setfattr -n user.WvG1c1Td -v qwerty $MNT/testfile\n\n  # Verify the xattrs are present.\n  echo \"xattrs before:\"\n  getfattr --absolute-names --dump $MNT/testfile\n\n  # Now replace the value of the foobar xattr with a significantly larger\n  # value.\n  setfattr -n user.foobar -v abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz $MNT/testfile\n\n  # Check the xattrs have the expected values.\n  echo \"xattrs after:\"\n  getfattr --absolute-names --dump $MNT/testfile\n\n  umount $MNT\n\nRunning it:\n\n  $ ./test.sh\n  (...)\n  xattrs before:\n  # file: /mnt/sdi/testfile\n  user.WvG1c1Td=\"qwerty\"\n  user.foobar=\"123\"\n\n  xattrs after:\n  # file: /mnt/sdi/testfile\n  user.WvG1c1Td=\"qwerty\"\n\nSo the \"user.foobar\" xattr is missing and there was a transaction abort\nwhen unmounting the fs with the following traces in dmesg:\n\n  $ dmesg\n  [869800.159271] BTRFS warning (device sdi): access to eb bytenr 30474240 len 16384 out of range start 16015 len 25964\n  [869800.159293] ------------[ cut here ]------------\n  [869800.159296] WARNING: fs/btrfs/extent_io.c:4408 at report_eb_range+0x44/0x60 [btrfs], CPU#8: getfattr/2605179\n  [869800.168961] Modules linked in: btrfs dm_thin_pool (...)\n  [869800.190527] CPU: 8 UID: 0 PID: 2605179 Comm: getfattr Tainted: G        W           7.3.0-rc3-btrfs-next-244+ #1 PREEMPT(full)\n  [869800.193726] Tainted: [W]=WARN\n  [869800.194502] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.2-0-gea1b7a073390-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014\n  [869800.197576] RIP: 0010:report_eb_range+0x44/0x60 [btrfs]\n  [869800.198985] Code: 48 8b 7b 18 (...)\n  [869800.203531] RSP: 0018:ffffce4541937d58 EFLAGS: 00010246\n  [869800.204609] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8dde054b8738 RCX: 0000000000000000\n  [869800.206137] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: ffffffffc04c92a0\n  [869800.207645] RBP: 0000000000003e8f R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 3fffffffffefffff\n  [869800.226175] R10: ffffce4541937a88 R11: 0000000000000003 R12: 000000000000656c\n  [869800.227594] R13: ffff8dde14be800f R14: 000000000000656c R15: 0000000000000069\n  [869800.229097] FS:  00007f59023bb780(0000) GS:ffff8de5788ed000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000\n  [869800.231137] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033\n  [869800.232321] CR2: 0000558dc45e6a78 CR3: 0000000765b16004 CR4: 0000000000370ef0\n  [869800.233783] Call Trace:\n  [869800.234330]  <TASK>\n  [869800.234791]  read_extent_buffer+0x4d/0x100 [btrfs]\n  [869800.235898]  btrfs_listxattr+0x199/0x240 [btrfs]\n  [869800.236912]  vfs_listxattr+0x51/0\n---truncated---","cvss_v4":null,"cvss_v3":{"version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","score":9.8},"cwes":[],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5877d7138cc4359d26fd7b010eedfd1b3162348f","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7a53bb4668b319fc6c8a3ce2c21635125c7d2712","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/858bee1c77857aabcc2327cd32dd8266332de332","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a97114b9b00ed3d05156f3b2ddbf797296260389","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c1803697a60f22743aa28ad522f805e92d45e3f0"],"products":[],"source":"nvd","synced_at":"2026-10-24T16:53:35.584907681+00:00"},"epss":{"cve":"CVE-2026-98959","score":0.00607,"percentile":0.48727,"date":"2026-10-25"},"kev":null,"osv":[],"attribution":["This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.","EPSS scores: FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System, https://www.first.org/epss","Known exploited vulnerabilities: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","Package advisories: OSV (https://osv.dev), from the GitHub Advisory Database, PyPA, Go, RustSec and other ecosystem databases, under CC-BY 4.0 or CC0","CVE records: the CVE Program's CVE List (https://www.cve.org), under its terms of use (https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse). CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation; this product is not affiliated with the CVE Program."]}