# CVE-2026-68460: f2fs: fix potential deadlock in f2fs_balance_fs()

> A local attacker can cause a system deadlock in the Linux kernel f2fs filesystem when space is nearly exhausted, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 18 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-68460, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68460, GHSA-55pq-fq6f-gfm8, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68460

## What is CVE-2026-68460?

CVE-2026-68460 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 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:

f2fs: fix potential deadlock in f2fs_balance_fs()

When the f2fs filesystem space is nearly exhausted, we encounter deadlock
issues as below:

INFO: task A:1890 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
      Tainted: G           O       6.12.41-g3fe07ddf05ab #1
"echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
task:A    state:D stack:0     pid:1890  tgid:1626  ppid:1153   flags:0x00000204
Call trace:
 __switch_to+0xf4/0x158
 __schedule+0x27c/0x908
 schedule+0x3c/0x118
 io_schedule+0x44/0x68
 folio_wait_bit_common+0x174/0x370
 folio_wait_bit+0x20/0x38
 folio_wait_writeback+0x54/0xc8
 truncate_inode_partial_folio+0x70/0x1e0
 truncate_inode_pages_range+0x1b0/0x450
 truncate_pagecache+0x54/0x88
 f2fs_file_write_iter+0x3e8/0xb80
 do_iter_readv_writev+0xf0/0x1e0
 vfs_writev+0x138/0x2c8
 do_writev+0x88/0x130
 __arm64_sys_writev+0x28/0x40
 invoke_syscall+0x50/0x120
 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xc8/0xf0
 do_el0_svc+0x24/0x38
 el0_svc+0x30/0xf8
 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x120/0x130
 el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x198

INFO: task kworker/u8:11:2680853 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
      Tainted: G           O       6.12.41-g3fe07ddf05ab #1
"echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
task:kworker/u8:11   state:D stack:0     pid:2680853 tgid:2680853 ppid:2      flags:0x00000208
Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-254:0)
Call trace:
 __switch_to+0xf4/0x158
 __schedule+0x27c/0x908
 schedule+0x3c/0x118
 io_schedule+0x44/0x68
 folio_wait_bit_common+0x174/0x370
 __filemap_get_folio+0x214/0x348
 pagecache_get_page+0x20/0x70
 f2fs_get_read_data_page+0x150/0x3e8
 f2fs_get_lock_data_page+0x2c/0x160
 move_data_page+0x50/0x478
 do_garbage_collect+0xd38/0x1528
 f2fs_gc+0x240/0x7e0
 f2fs_balance_fs+0x1a0/0x208
 f2fs_write_single_data_page+0x6e4/0x730
 f2fs_write_cache_pages+0x378/0x9b0
 f2fs_write_data_pages+0x2e4/0x388
 do_writepages+0x8c/0x2c8
 __writeback_single_inode+0x4c/0x498
 writeback_sb_inodes+0x234/0x4a8
 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x58/0x118
 wb_writeback+0x2f8/0x3c0
 wb_workfn+0x2c4/0x508
 process_one_work+0x180/0x408
 worker_thread+0x258/0x368
 kthread+0x118/0x128
 ret_from_fork+0x10/0x200

INFO: task kworker/u8:8:2641297 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
      Tainted: G           O       6.12.41-g3fe07ddf05ab #1
"echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
task:kworker/u8:8    state:D stack:0     pid:2641297 tgid:2641297 ppid:2      flags:0x00000208
Workqueue: writeback wb_workfn (flush-254:0)
Call trace:
 __switch_to+0xf4/0x158
 __schedule+0x27c/0x908
 rt_mutex_schedule+0x30/0x60
 __rt_mutex_slowlock_locked.constprop.0+0x460/0x8a8
 rwbase_write_lock+0x24c/0x378
 down_write+0x1c/0x30
 f2fs_balance_fs+0x184/0x208
 f2fs_write_inode+0xf4/0x328
 __writeback_single_inode+0x370/0x498
 writeback_sb_inodes+0x234/0x4a8
 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x58/0x118
 wb_writeback+0x2f8/0x3c0
 wb_workfn+0x2c4/0x508
 process_one_work+0x180/0x408
 worker_thread+0x258/0x368
 kthread+0x118/0x128
 ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20

INFO: task B:1902 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
      Tainted: G           O       6.12.41-g3fe07ddf05ab #1
"echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
task:B     state:D stack:0     pid:1902  tgid:1626  ppid:1153   flags:0x0000020c
Call trace:
 __switch_to+0xf4/0x158
 __schedule+0x27c/0x908
 rt_mutex_schedule+0x30/0x60
 __rt_mutex_slowlock_locked.constprop.0+0x460/0x8a8
 rwbase_write_lock+0x24c/0x378
 down_write+0x1c/0x30
 f2fs_balance_fs+0x184/0x208
 f2fs_map_blocks+0x94c/0x1110
 f2fs_file_write_iter+0x228/0xb80
 do_iter_readv_writev+0xf0/0x1e0
 vfs_writev+0x138/0x2c8
 do_writev+0x88/0x130
 __arm64_sys_writev+0x28/0x40
 invoke_syscall+0x50/0x120
 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xc8/0xf0
 do_el0_svc+0x24/0x38
 el0_svc+0x30/0xf8
 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x120/0x130
 el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x198

INFO: task sync:2769849 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
      Tainted: G     
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68460?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-68460?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-68460 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68460 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-68460 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-68460 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 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-2026-68460 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-2026-68460/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68460/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-68460
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-68460
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-68460

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68460/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.