# CVE-2026-72096: dm-verity: make error counter atomic

> A race condition in the Linux kernel dm-verity error counter may skip audit logs, potentially bypassing security monitoring for corrupted data.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 23 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-72096, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72096, GHSA-8596-mc33-986q, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72096

## What is CVE-2026-72096?

CVE-2026-72096 is a 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:

dm-verity: make error counter atomic

The error counter "v->corrupted_errs" was not atomic, thus it could be
subject to race conditions. The call to
dm_audit_log_target("max-corrupted-errors") may be skipped due to the
races.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72096?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72096?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72096 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72096 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72096 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72096 is a 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-2026-72096 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-2026-72096/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72096/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72096
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72096
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72096

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72096/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.