Bug 2532345 (CVE-2026-89601)

Summary: CVE-2026-89601 kernel: ext2: Fix lost inode updates for IS_SYNC inodes
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
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 ext2 filesystem. This vulnerability occurs in the `ext2_setsize()` and `ext2_xattr_set2()` functions, where inode updates for `IS_SYNC` inodes may be lost. This happens because the `sync_inode_metadata()` function only processes inodes that are already marked as dirty, leading to potential data corruption or loss of metadata if the inode is not unconditionally marked dirty beforehand. A local attacker could potentially exploit this to cause data integrity issues.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-11 22:29:15 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ext2: Fix lost inode updates for IS_SYNC inodes

ext2_setsize() and ext2_xattr_set2() had a construct like:

	if (IS_SYNC(inode)) {
		sync_inode_metadata(inode, 1);
	} else {
		mark_inode_dirty(inode);
	}

which leads to lost inode updates for IS_SYNC inodes because
sync_inode_metadata() does anything only if the inode is already dirty
and hence inode updates may be simply lost. Fix the problem by
unconditionally marking the inode dirty and *then* call
sync_inode_metadata().