Kernel crash via swallowed XFS inode-load errors
Published Aug 26, 2026 · Updated Aug 27, 2026
Incorrect return-value handling in XFS growfs in affected Linux kernels allows local users to crash the kernel or corrupt realtime metadata. The xfs_rtginode_ensure() function treats every xfs_rtginode_load() error except -ENOENT as success, leaving the realtime group inode unset while growfs continues. Exploitation requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN, write access to a realtime-enabled XFS mount, and an induced I/O, allocation, or corruption error; the bounded effects are a kernel crash or on-disk metadata corruption.
Summary
What happened
Incorrect return-value handling in XFS growfs in affected Linux kernels allows local users to crash the kernel or corrupt realtime metadata. The xfs_rtginode_ensure() function treats every xfs_rtginode_load() error except -ENOENT as success, leaving the realtime group inode unset while growfs continues. Exploitation requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN, write access to a realtime-enabled XFS mount, and an induced I/O, allocation, or corruption error; the bounded effects are a kernel crash or on-disk metadata corruption.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-80538
- Published
- Aug 26, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 27, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-253, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 26, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 27, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.13
- Affected versionversion=ae897e0bed0f5461a6b1c3259c7d899759ba2a62 <61c5165f02deb2eed9b6b539bb279e6629fee652
- Affected versionversion=ae897e0bed0f5461a6b1c3259c7d899759ba2a62 <b7e53968cb8882c2d276429ea8550848a4940874
- Affected versionversion=ae897e0bed0f5461a6b1c3259c7d899759ba2a62 <ec19cea4ef1ce9d6e2e3f7e9e7bf88ede31176e7
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo