# CVE-2026-43118: btrfs: fix zero size inode with non-zero size after log replay

> A logic error in the btrfs filesystem allows file sizes to remain incorrect after a crash and log replay, potentially leading to data inconsistency.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 6 May 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-85838, BELL-CVE-2026-43118, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43118, GHSA-hwg8-9qf4-vr6j, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-43118, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-43118, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-43118, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-43118, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-43118, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43118

## What is CVE-2026-43118?

CVE-2026-43118 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

btrfs: fix zero size inode with non-zero size after log replay

When logging that an inode exists, as part of logging a new name or
logging new dir entries for a directory, we always set the generation of
the logged inode item to 0. This is to signal during log replay (in
overwrite_item()), that we should not set the i_size since we only logged
that an inode exists, so the i_size of the inode in the subvolume tree
must be preserved (as when we log new names or that an inode exists, we
don't log extents).

This works fine except when we have already logged an inode in full mode
or it's the first time we are logging an inode created in a past
transaction, that inode has a new i_size of 0 and then we log a new name
for the inode (due to a new hardlink or a rename), in which case we log
an i_size of 0 for the inode and a generation of 0, which causes the log
replay code to not update the inode's i_size to 0 (in overwrite_item()).

An example scenario:

  mkdir /mnt/dir
  xfs_io -f -c "pwrite 0 64K" /mnt/dir/foo

  sync

  xfs_io -c "truncate 0" -c "fsync" /mnt/dir/foo

  ln /mnt/dir/foo /mnt/dir/bar

  xfs_io -c "fsync" /mnt/dir

  <power fail>

After log replay the file remains with a size of 64K. This is because when
we first log the inode, when we fsync file foo, we log its current i_size
of 0, and then when we create a hard link we log again the inode in exists
mode (LOG_INODE_EXISTS) but we set a generation of 0 for the inode item we
add to the log tree, so during log replay overwrite_item() sees that the
generation is 0 and i_size is 0 so we skip updating the inode's i_size
from 64K to 0.

Fix this by making sure at fill_inode_item() we always log the real
generation of the inode if it was logged in the current transaction with
the i_size we logged before. Also if an inode created in a previous
transaction is logged in exists mode only, make sure we log the i_size
stored in the inode item located from the commit root, so that if we log
multiple times that the inode exists we get the correct i_size.

A test case for fstests will follow soon.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43118?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43118?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43118 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43118 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-43118 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43118 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43118 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43118/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43118/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43118
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43118
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43118

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43118/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.