# CVE-2026-68149: fs: preserve ACL_DONT_CACHE state in forget_cached_acl()

> A race condition in the Linux kernel allows stale ACL cache values to be returned, potentially leading to unauthorized data access.

- **Severity:** High 8.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **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:** 10 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-68149, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68149, GHSA-wj9x-qhwh-xf9h, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68149

## What is CVE-2026-68149?

CVE-2026-68149 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 10 Aug 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:

fs: preserve ACL_DONT_CACHE state in forget_cached_acl()

The ACL_DONT_CACHE state is meant to be a constant state for the inode
for filesystems that want to opt out of posix acl caching.

Commit facd61053cff1 ("fuse: fixes after adapting to new posix acl api")
used this facility to opt out of posix acl caching for fuse inodes with
fuse server that does not negotiate FUSE_POSIX_ACL (fc->posix_acl).

The commit also takes care to gate the forget_all_cached_acls() call in
fuse_set_acl() on fc->posix_acl because there is no need for it, but
there are other placed in fuse code which call forget_all_cached_acls()
unconditional to fc->posix_acl and those cause the loss of the
ACL_DONT_CACHE state.

This is not only a functional bug. Properly timed, a get_acl() from this
fuse filesystem can return a stale cached value, as was observed in tests,
because set_acl() does not invalidate the unintentional acl cache.

We could fix this in fuse, but it actually makes no sense for the vfs
helper forget_cached_acl() to invalidate the ACL_DONT_CACHE state, so
let it not do that to fix fuse and future users of ACL_DONT_CACHE.

Weakness: CWE-662 (Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68149?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-68149?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-68149 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68149 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-68149 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-68149 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 10 Aug 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-2026-68149 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-68149/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68149/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-68149
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-68149
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-68149

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68149/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.