# CVE-2026-53040: ocfs2: validate bg_bits during freefrag scan

> A crafted filesystem triggers a use-after-free in the OCFS2 kernel module during freefrag scan, potentially causing system crashes or code execution.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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:** 24 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-53040, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53040, GHSA-4j7p-pwp5-4v56, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-53040, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-53040, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-53040, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-53040, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53040

## What is CVE-2026-53040?

CVE-2026-53040 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Jun 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:

ocfs2: validate bg_bits during freefrag scan

[BUG]
A crafted filesystem can trigger an out-of-bounds bitmap walk when
OCFS2_IOC_INFO is issued with OCFS2_INFO_FL_NON_COHERENT.

BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in instrument_atomic_read include/linux/instrumented.h:68 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in _test_bit include/asm-generic/bitops/instrumented-non-atomic.h:141 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in test_bit_le include/asm-generic/bitops/le.h:21 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ocfs2_info_freefrag_scan_chain fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:495 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ocfs2_info_freefrag_scan_bitmap fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:588 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ocfs2_info_handle_freefrag fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:662 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ocfs2_info_handle_request+0x1c66/0x3370 fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:754
Read of size 8 at addr ffff888031bce000 by task syz.0.636/1435
Call Trace:
 __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline]
 dump_stack_lvl+0xbe/0x130 lib/dump_stack.c:120
 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline]
 print_report+0xd1/0x650 mm/kasan/report.c:482
 kasan_report+0xfb/0x140 mm/kasan/report.c:595
 check_region_inline mm/kasan/generic.c:186 [inline]
 kasan_check_range+0x11c/0x200 mm/kasan/generic.c:200
 __kasan_check_read+0x11/0x20 mm/kasan/shadow.c:31
 instrument_atomic_read include/linux/instrumented.h:68 [inline]
 _test_bit include/asm-generic/bitops/instrumented-non-atomic.h:141 [inline]
 test_bit_le include/asm-generic/bitops/le.h:21 [inline]
 ocfs2_info_freefrag_scan_chain fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:495 [inline]
 ocfs2_info_freefrag_scan_bitmap fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:588 [inline]
 ocfs2_info_handle_freefrag fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:662 [inline]
 ocfs2_info_handle_request+0x1c66/0x3370 fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:754
 ocfs2_info_handle+0x18d/0x2a0 fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:828
 ocfs2_ioctl+0x632/0x6e0 fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:913
 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
 __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline]
 __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:583 [inline]
 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x197/0x1e0 fs/ioctl.c:583
 ...

[CAUSE]
ocfs2_info_freefrag_scan_chain() uses on-disk bg_bits directly as the
bitmap scan limit. The coherent path reads group descriptors through
ocfs2_read_group_descriptor(), which validates the descriptor before
use. The non-coherent path uses ocfs2_read_blocks_sync() instead and
skips that validation, so an impossible bg_bits value can drive the
bitmap walk past the end of the block.

[FIX]
Compute the bitmap capacity from the filesystem format with
ocfs2_group_bitmap_size(), report descriptors whose bg_bits exceeds
that limit, and clamp the scan to the computed capacity. This keeps the
freefrag report going while avoiding reads beyond the buffer.

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53040?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-53040?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-53040 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53040 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-2026-53040 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-53040 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Jun 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-2026-53040 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-2026-53040/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53040/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53040
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53040
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53040

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53040/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.