CVE-2026-72159

CVE Details

Release Date:	2026-08-15
Impact:	Moderate	What is this?

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ocfs2: reject non-inline dinodes with i_size and zero i_clusters On a volume mounted without OCFS2_FEATURE_INCOMPAT_SPARSE_ALLOC, a non-inline regular file with non-zero i_size and zero i_clusters is structurally malformed: the extent map declares no allocated clusters yet the size header claims content exists. Keep rejecting that shape, but express it through a shared predicate so the same invariant is available to normal inode reads and online filecheck. The same zero-cluster shape is also malformed for non-inline directories. ocfs2 directory growth allocates backing storage before advancing i_size, and ocfs2_dir_foreach_blk_el() later walks until ctx->pos reaches i_size_read(inode). A forged directory dinode with a huge i_size and no clusters would repeatedly fail on holes while advancing through the claimed size. Sparse regular files remain exempt: on sparse-alloc volumes, truncate can legitimately grow i_size without allocating clusters. System inodes and inline-data dinodes also retain their separate storage rules. Mirror the check in ocfs2_filecheck_validate_inode_block() as well. filecheck reports through its own error namespace, so malformed size/cluster state is logged as a filecheck invalid-inode result rather than via ocfs2_error(), but it must not proceed into ocfs2_populate_inode().

See more information about CVE-2026-72159 from MITRE CVE dictionary and NIST NVD

NOTE: The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 metrics

Base Score:	5.5
Vector String:	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Version:	3.1
Attack Vector:	Local
Attack Complexity:	Low
Privileges Required:	Low
User Interaction:	None
Scope:	Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact:	None
Integrity Impact:	None
Availability Impact:	High

Errata information

Platform	Errata	Release Date
Oracle Linux version 10 (kernel-uek)	ELSA-2026-500248	2026-09-04
Oracle Linux version 8 (kernel-uek)	ELSA-2026-500249	2026-09-04
Oracle Linux version 9 (kernel-uek)	ELSA-2026-500248	2026-09-04
Oracle Linux version 9 (kernel-uek)	ELSA-2026-500249	2026-09-04