# CVE-2026-43268: hfsplus: pretend special inodes as regular files

> The Linux kernel hfsplus filesystem now treats special inodes as regular files to comply with VFS mode checks, preventing potential access issues.

- **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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-43268, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43268, GHSA-9wc3-g8j8-wv5q, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-43268, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-43268, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-43268, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43268

## What is CVE-2026-43268?

CVE-2026-43268 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:

hfsplus: pretend special inodes as regular files

Since commit af153bb63a33 ("vfs: catch invalid modes in may_open()")
requires any inode be one of S_IFDIR/S_IFLNK/S_IFREG/S_IFCHR/S_IFBLK/
S_IFIFO/S_IFSOCK type, use S_IFREG for special inodes.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43268?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43268?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43268 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43268 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-2026-43268 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43268 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-2026-43268 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-2026-43268/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43268/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43268
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43268
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43268

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43268/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.