CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-98885

Low risk· EPSS 7%
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.18%

7th percentile - higher than 7% of all known CVEs

Summary

A bug was fixed in the Linux kernel's IMA (Integrity Measurement Architecture) subsystem that attempted to change file extended attributes (xattr) on a read-only filesystem during early boot. On ext4 this triggered a journaling transaction and a kernel warning. The fix detects the file state early and returns an error instead of attempting the disallowed operation.

Risk Assessment

The vulnerability can cause kernel warnings and potential stability issues during early boot on systems using IMA with ext4 in read-only mode. In extreme cases it may disrupt the boot process or cause unexpected behavior of the integrity subsystem.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix for CVE-2026-98885. If not possible, consider disabling IMA appraisal during early boot or using a filesystem other than ext4 in IMA-enabled configurations.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

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Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ima: return error early if file xattr cannot be changed During early boot, the filesystem is read-only and any changes to xattrs are not allowed. This fails in case of ext4 because changing xattr starts an ext4 transaction which fails with the following warning. WARNING: fs/ext4/ext4_jbd2.c:75 at ext4_journal_check_start+0x63/0xa0 [ext4], CPU#1: systemd-sysroot/561 CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 561 Comm: systemd-sysroot Not tainted 6.19.12-1-default #1 PREEMPT(voluntary) openSUSE Tumbleweed c2dfc3c9d9f6f1233251c5d4410574fe82a348ee Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS unknown 02/02/2022 RIP: 0010:ext4_journal_check_start+0x63/0xa0 [ext4] Call Trace: __ext4_journal_start_sb+0x3e/0x180 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1] ext4_xattr_set+0x104/0x150 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1] __vfs_setxattr+0x9a/0xd0 __vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x76/0x1f0 ima_appraise_measurement+0x23e/0xe40 ima_d_path+0x5a/0xd0 process_measurement+0xb29/0xc40 ? copy_from_kernel_nofault+0x21/0xe0 ? fscrypt_file_open+0xc0/0xe0 ? ext4_file_open+0x60/0x490 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1] ? bpf_prog_31efb7c56239148b_restrict_filesystems+0xab/0x126 ? __bpf_prog_exit+0x23/0xd0 ? __bpf_tramp_exit+0xd/0x50 ? bpf_trampoline_6442530367+0x9f/0xea ima_file_check+0x57/0x80 security_file_post_open+0x50/0xf0 path_openat+0x493/0x1650 do_filp_open+0xc7/0x170 Detect the state of the file early and return the error.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS