CVE-2026-98959: btrfs: fix xattr replace when multiple xattrs are packed in the same item

Is it exploited?

Not on CISA's list. CISA has not added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as of 29 Oct 2026. If CISA adds it, this page shows it as known exploited.

How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?

0.6%

EPSS score, percentile 48.9 of all scored records. A probability estimated by FIRST, not a report of exploitation.

How severe?

9.8 Critical

CVSS v3.1 base score, given by the CNA

What should I do?

CISA has set no required action, because the vulnerability is not in KEV.

The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.

Which versions are affected?

Affected

• from 3.10.83 to before 3.11
• from 3.12.45 to before 3.13
• from 3.14.47 to before 3.15
• 3.19

Unaffected before 3.19; 6.6.160; 6.12.113; 6.18.57; 7.2.11; 7.3

Versions by product

Source: CISA KEV 2026.10.29, as of 29 Oct 2026; FIRST EPSS, as of 29 Oct 2026; CVE List, as of 29 Oct 2026. About the data.

What to do

Advisories and patches

The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.

This summary is based on the CVE record as of 29 Oct 2026. Check the vendor's advisory before you act: affected versions and fixes can change.

Affected products and versions

As listed in the CVE record.

Versions not listed are: unaffected.

And 1 more version entries in the CVE record.

Versions not listed are: affected.

Versions the record lists as unaffected: 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.57, 7.2.11, 7.3.

Source: CVE List, as of 29 Oct 2026. About the data.

About this vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix xattr replace when multiple xattrs are packed in the same item If we have a btrfs_dir_item item that packs multiple xattrs and then we replace the value of one of them (with the setxattr(2) family of syscalls) with another value of a different size, we end up not having a fully initialized btrfs_dir_item, resulting i…

Summary: CVE record, as of 29 Oct 2026.

• CISA has not added CVE-2026-98959 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, as of 29 Oct 2026.
• The CVE record was published on 23 Oct 2026.
• The CVE record carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (Critical), given by its CNA.
• FIRST's EPSS model puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.6% (percentile 48.9), as of 29 Oct 2026. EPSS is a statistical estimate, not a report of exploitation.

Source: CISA KEV 2026.10.29, as of 29 Oct 2026; CVE List, as of 29 Oct 2026; FIRST EPSS, as of 29 Oct 2026. About the data.

Description

btrfs: fix xattr replace when multiple xattrs are packed in the same item

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: fix xattr replace when multiple xattrs are packed in the same item If we have a btrfs_dir_item item that packs multiple xattrs and then we replace the value of one of them (with the setxattr(2) family of syscalls) with another value of a different size, we end up not having a fully initialized btrfs_dir_item, resulting in a corruption that the tree checker will detect at extent buffer writeback time. This is because in btrfs_setxattr() when we find a btrfs_dir_item with multiple xattrs (due to the crc32c hash of their name being the same) we delete one of the xattr items (btrfs_dir_item) and then insert a new one, but the deletion and insertion results in shifting existing data in the leaf and therefore when the new value of a xattr has a different size, the new btrfs_dir_item is placed in a leaf section that was not initialized and we only copy the value's data and set the value's length in the new btrfs_dir_item, without setting the name, the name's length, the key (which must be all zeroes for xattrs), flags (BTRFS_FT_XATTR) and transaction ID. The following script reproduces the issue: $ cat test.sh #!/bin/bash DEV=/dev/sdi MNT=/mnt/sdi mkfs.btrfs -f $DEV mount $DEV $MNT touch $MNT/testfile # Add two xattrs that, on btrfs, have the same hash (crc32c) for their # name and therefore are packed into the same btrfs_dir_item. setfattr -n user.foobar -v 123 $MNT/testfile setfattr -n user.WvG1c1Td -v qwerty $MNT/testfile # Verify the xattrs are present. echo "xattrs before:" getfattr --absolute-names --dump $MNT/testfile # Now replace the value of the foobar xattr with a significantly larger # value. setfattr -n user.foobar -v abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz $MNT/testfile # Check the xattrs have the expected values. echo "xattrs after:" getfattr --absolute-names --dump $MNT/testfile umount $MNT Running it: $ ./test.sh (...) xattrs before: # file: /mnt/sdi/testfile user.WvG1c1Td="qwerty" user.foobar="123" xattrs after: # file: /mnt/sdi/testfile user.WvG1c1Td="qwerty" So the "user.foobar" xattr is missing and there was a transaction abort when unmounting the fs with the following traces in dmesg: $ dmesg [869800.159271] BTRFS warning (device sdi): access to eb bytenr 30474240 len 16384 out of range start 16015 len 25964 [869800.159293] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [869800.159296] WARNING: fs/btrfs/extent_io.c:4408 at report_eb_range+0x44/0x60 [btrfs], CPU#8: getfattr/2605179 [869800.168961] Modules linked in: btrfs dm_thin_pool (...) [869800.190527] CPU: 8 UID: 0 PID: 2605179 Comm: getfattr Tainted: G W 7.3.0-rc3-btrfs-next-244+ #1 PREEMPT(full) [869800.193726] Tainted: [W]=WARN [869800.194502] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.2-0-gea1b7a073390-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [869800.197576] RIP: 0010:report_eb_range+0x44/0x60 [btrfs] [869800.198985] Code: 48 8b 7b 18 (...) [869800.203531] RSP: 0018:ffffce4541937d58 EFLAGS: 00010246 [869800.204609] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8dde054b8738 RCX: 0000000000000000 [869800.206137] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: ffffffffc04c92a0 [869800.207645] RBP: 0000000000003e8f R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 3fffffffffefffff [869800.226175] R10: ffffce4541937a88 R11: 0000000000000003 R12: 000000000000656c [869800.227594] R13: ffff8dde14be800f R14: 000000000000656c R15: 0000000000000069 [869800.229097] FS: 00007f59023bb780(0000) GS:ffff8de5788ed000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [869800.231137] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [869800.232321] CR2: 0000558dc45e6a78 CR3: 0000000765b16004 CR4: 0000000000370ef0 [869800.233783] Call Trace: [869800.234330] <TASK> [869800.234791] read_extent_buffer+0x4d/0x100 [btrfs] [869800.235898] btrfs_listxattr+0x199/0x240 [btrfs] [869800.236912] vfs_listxattr+0x51/0 ---truncated---

Source: CVE List, as of 29 Oct 2026. About the data.

Timeline

Known exploited Linux vulnerabilities

• CVE-2026-46300: Linux Kernel Missing Initialization of a Variable Vulnerability (added 28 Oct 2026)
• CVE-2025-39682: Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Vulnerability (added 18 Sep 2026)
• CVE-2025-39964: Linux Kernel Race Condition Vulnerability (added 18 Sep 2026)
• CVE-2026-53266: Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Vulnerability (added 18 Sep 2026)
• CVE-2026-53362: Linux Kernel Unspecified Vulnerability (added 27 Aug 2026)