# CVE-2026-64187: xfs: fail recovery on a committed log item with no regions

> A crafted XFS log causes a null pointer dereference during recovery, leading to a kernel crash and denial of service.

- **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:** 20 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-92853, BELL-CVE-2026-64187, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-64187, GHSA-5fjh-93mh-6xvw, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-64187, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-64187

## What is CVE-2026-64187?

CVE-2026-64187 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 Jul 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:

xfs: fail recovery on a committed log item with no regions

If the first op of a transaction is a bare transaction header
(len == sizeof(struct xfs_trans_header)), xlog_recover_add_to_trans()
adds an item but no region, leaving it on r_itemq with ri_cnt == 0 and
ri_buf == NULL.

The header can be split across op records, so later ops may still add
regions; the item is only invalid if the transaction commits with none.
The runtime commit path never emits such a transaction, so this only
happens on a crafted log.  It came from an AI-assisted code audit of the
recovery parser.

xlog_recover_reorder_trans() calls ITEM_TYPE() on the item, which reads
*(unsigned short *)item->ri_buf[0].iov_base and faults on the NULL
ri_buf.  Reject it there, before the commit handlers that also read
ri_buf[0].

 KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
 RIP: 0010:xlog_recover_reorder_trans (fs/xfs/xfs_log_recover.c:1836)
  xlog_recover_commit_trans (fs/xfs/xfs_log_recover.c:2043)
  xlog_recover_process_data (fs/xfs/xfs_log_recover.c:2501)
  xlog_do_recovery_pass (fs/xfs/xfs_log_recover.c:3244)
  xlog_recover (fs/xfs/xfs_log_recover.c:3493)
  xfs_log_mount (fs/xfs/xfs_log.c:618)
  xfs_mountfs (fs/xfs/xfs_mount.c:1034)
  xfs_fs_fill_super (fs/xfs/xfs_super.c:1938)
  vfs_get_tree (fs/super.c:1695)
  path_mount (fs/namespace.c:4161)
  __x64_sys_mount (fs/namespace.c:4367)

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-64187?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-64187?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-64187 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-64187 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-2026-64187 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-64187 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 Jul 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-2026-64187 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-2026-64187/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64187/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-64187
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-64187
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-64187

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64187/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.