CVE-2026-46046 ext4: fix missing brelse() in ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all()

What is CVE-2026-46046?

CVE-2026-46046 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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:

ext4: fix missing brelse() in ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all()

The commit c8e008b60492 ("ext4: ignore xattrs past end") introduced a refcount leak in when block_csum is false.

ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref_all() calls ext4_get_inode_loc() to get iloc.bh, but never releases it with brelse().

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46046?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-46046?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2026-46046 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46046 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as AZL-88431, BELL-CVE-2026-46046, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46046, GHSA-m5xh-rjfq-cc6f, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-46046, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-46046 and 3 more.