Bug 2528610 (CVE-2026-80806)

Summary: CVE-2026-80806 kernel: ext4: don't enable DAX on new encrypted files
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's ext4 filesystem. This vulnerability allows data written to newly created encrypted files to bypass encryption when the filesystem is mounted with the 'dax=always' option. This occurs due to an incorrect sequence in setting internal flags, which prevents the direct access (DAX) flag from being cleared. Consequently, sensitive information intended to be protected by encryption could be exposed.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-04 15:39:38 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ext4: don't enable DAX on new encrypted files

Currently, when a new encrypted regular file is created, the call to
ext4_set_inode_flags(inode, init=true) in __ext4_new_inode() is made
before EXT4_INODE_ENCRYPT is set.  As a result, it can set S_DAX if the
filesystem is mounted with "-o dax=always".

EXT4_INODE_ENCRYPT then actually gets set a bit later in
__ext4_new_inode(), when it calls fscrypt_set_context() which calls
ext4_set_context().  ext4_set_context() sets EXT4_INODE_ENCRYPT and
calls ext4_set_inode_flags(inode, init=false) to set S_ENCRYPTED too.

This was intended to clear S_DAX as well.  However, this was broken by
commit 043546e46dc7 ("fs/ext4: Only change S_DAX on inode load").  This
causes data written to the file to bypass encryption, also causing
xfstests failures such as generic/548 (when "-o dax=always" is used).

Fix this by simplifying the flow by making __ext4_new_inode() set
EXT4_INODE_ENCRYPT earlier.  This makes it take effect in
ext4_set_inode_flags(inode, init=true), making S_DAX never be set.

Similarly, make EXT4_STATE_MAY_INLINE_DATA never be set in the first
place on new encrypted inodes.  Then it doesn't need to be cleared.

As a result of these simplifications, ext4_set_context() no longer needs
to change inode flags or state when 'handle != NULL'.  Remove that too.