# CVE-2026-64359: nilfs2: reject CLEAN_SEGMENTS ioctl with out-of-range segment numbers

> A local attacker can cause a denial of service in the Linux kernel by triggering a hung task in the nilfs2 filesystem via invalid segment numbers in an ioctl call.

- **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:** 25 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-64359, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-64359, GHSA-7cjq-w44j-qx9w, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-64359, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-64359

## What is CVE-2026-64359?

CVE-2026-64359 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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:

nilfs2: reject CLEAN_SEGMENTS ioctl with out-of-range segment numbers

Syzbot reported a hung task in nilfs_transaction_begin() where multiple
tasks performing chmod() on a nilfs2 mount blocked for over 143 seconds
waiting to acquire ns_segctor_sem for read:

  INFO: task syz.0.17:5918 blocked for more than 143 seconds.
  Call Trace:
   schedule+0x164/0x360
   rwsem_down_read_slowpath+0x6d9/0x940
   down_read+0x99/0x2e0
   nilfs_transaction_begin+0x364/0x710 fs/nilfs2/segment.c:221
   nilfs_setattr+0x124/0x2c0 fs/nilfs2/inode.c:921
   notify_change+0xc1a/0xf40
   chmod_common+0x273/0x4a0
   do_fchmodat+0x12d/0x230

The writer holding ns_segctor_sem was a concurrent
NILFS_IOCTL_CLEAN_SEGMENTS caller, stuck inside printk while emitting
per-element warnings from nilfs_sufile_updatev():

   __nilfs_msg+0x373/0x450 fs/nilfs2/super.c:78
   nilfs_sufile_updatev+0x21c/0x6d0 fs/nilfs2/sufile.c:186
   nilfs_sufile_freev fs/nilfs2/sufile.h:93 [inline]
   nilfs_free_segments fs/nilfs2/segment.c:1140 [inline]
   nilfs_segctor_collect_blocks fs/nilfs2/segment.c:1261 [inline]
   nilfs_segctor_do_construct+0x1f55/0x76c0
   nilfs_clean_segments+0x3bd/0xa50
   nilfs_ioctl_clean_segments fs/nilfs2/ioctl.c:922 [inline]
   nilfs_ioctl+0x261f/0x2780

The root cause is that user-supplied segment numbers are not validated
before nilfs_clean_segments() begins doing work; the range check on
each segnum is performed deep inside the call chain by
nilfs_sufile_updatev(), which emits a nilfs_warn() per invalid entry
while still holding the segctor lock and the sufile mi_sem.  Under load
(repeated invocations across multiple mounts saturating the global
printk path), the cumulative printk latency keeps ns_segctor_sem held
long enough to trip the hung_task watchdog, blocking concurrent
operations such as chmod() that need ns_segctor_sem for read.

Fix by validating the contents of kbufs[4] in nilfs_clean_segments()
immediately after acquiring ns_segctor_sem via nilfs_transaction_lock().
Holding ns_segctor_sem serializes the check against
nilfs_ioctl_resize(), which can modify ns_nsegments, so the validation
uses a consistent value.  Out-of-range segment numbers are rejected
with -EINVAL before any segment-cleaning work begins, so the bad
entries never reach the per-element diagnostic path inside
nilfs_sufile_updatev().

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-64359?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-64359?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-64359 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-64359 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-2026-64359 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-64359 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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-2026-64359 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-2026-64359/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64359/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-64359
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-64359
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-64359

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64359/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.