# CVE-2026-80734: btrfs: initialize inode mapping flags for cached inodes

> A missing initialization of inode mapping flags in the Linux kernel btrfs filesystem can cause a kernel crash during file operations.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 3 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-80734, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80734, GHSA-rfxq-m8fc-mrw6, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80734

## What is CVE-2026-80734?

CVE-2026-80734 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 3 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

btrfs: initialize inode mapping flags for cached inodes

[BUG]
When running generic/795 with 8K block size, 4K page size, the test
always fails, triggering some ASSERT()s related to folio size:

  795 (241074): drop_caches: 3
  assertion failed: IS_ALIGNED(start, blocksize) && IS_ALIGNED(end + 1, blocksize), in extent_io.c:1404 (blocksize=8192 root=262 ino=258 start=16826368 end=16830463 mapping min order=0)
  ------------[ cut here ]------------
  kernel BUG at extent_io.c:1404!
  Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP
  CPU: 8 UID: 0 PID: 241105 Comm: fsstress Tainted: G           OE       7.2.0-rc5-custom+ #442 PREEMPT(full)  f4bfb352566f3949f29c233ce6f735050a03b245
  Tainted: [O]=OOT_MODULE, [E]=UNSIGNED_MODULE
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS unknown 02/02/2022
  RIP: 0010:assert_folio_range.cold+0x3d/0x3f [btrfs]
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   btrfs_read_folio+0x9e/0x170 [btrfs 4cd1dd93b341b8ef766643f9512f4a86259567a3]
   prepare_one_folio.constprop.0+0x104/0x2a0 [btrfs 4cd1dd93b341b8ef766643f9512f4a86259567a3]
   btrfs_buffered_write+0x285/0xa50 [btrfs 4cd1dd93b341b8ef766643f9512f4a86259567a3]
   btrfs_do_write_iter+0x1aa/0x210 [btrfs 4cd1dd93b341b8ef766643f9512f4a86259567a3]
   iter_file_splice_write+0x31a/0x540
   direct_splice_actor+0x53/0x170
   splice_direct_to_actor+0xe9/0x240
   do_splice_direct+0x76/0xb0
   vfs_copy_file_range+0x1fd/0x630
   __x64_sys_copy_file_range+0xf9/0x220
   do_syscall_64+0xe1/0x790
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53
   </TASK>
  ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

The ASSERT() itself is added by a later patch.
The crash is triggered with that new debug patch, and without this fix.

[CAUSE]
In the above case, the start 16826368 is properly 8K aligned, but the
end (16830463 + 1) is not 8K aligned.
Furthermore the mapping's minimal folio order is 0, not the expected 1
for 8K block size with 4K page size.

So this means some inodes do not have btrfs_set_inode_mapping_order()
called on it.

The missing btrfs_set_inode_mapping_order() call happens for cached
inodes, through the following events:

- btrfs_create_new_inode() called for inode X
  Which properly sets minimal folio order for the VFS inode.

- btrfs_update_inode() called for inode X
  Which calls btrfs_delayed_update_inode() to create a delayed_node
  into root->delayed_nodes xarray.

- Drop cache/memory pressure, evicting in-memory inode X
  Which evicted the inode X, but delayed_node is still in
  root->delayed_nodes for future reuse.

- btrfs_iget() for inode X called again

  btrfs_iget()
  |- btrfs_iget_locked()
  |  |- iget5_locked_rcu()
  |     Which creates a new vfs_inode for btrfs, whose mapping still
  |     has the minimal order as 0.
  |
  |- btrfs_read_locked_inode()
     |- btrfs_fill_inode()
     |  |- btrfs_get_delayed_node()
     |     Which found out the previous node, and use that delayed
     |     node to initialize the new inode.
     |
     |- filled = true;
     |- if (filled) goto cache_index;
        Which skips the btrfs_update_inode_mapping_flags() and
	btrfs_set_inode_mapping_order() calls.
	So the inode still has minimal folio order set as 0, not
	the required 1.

Thus later page cache read will get a folio whose size is smaller than
block size, as the mapping has its minimal folio order set as 0 not 1,
then trigger the ASSERT().

[FIX]
Move the btrfs_update_inode_mapping_flags() and
btrfs_set_inode_mapping_order() calls under cache_index label,
so that the mapping flags and minimal folio order is always set
no matter if we have a cached inode.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80734?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-80734?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-80734 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80734 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-80734 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-80734 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 3 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80734 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-2026-80734/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80734/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-80734
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-80734
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-80734

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80734/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.