# CVE-2026-89496: ocfs2: always run deallocs on copy-on-write completion

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel OCFS2 filesystem allows local attackers to cause denial of service via copy-on-write operations.

- **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:** 11 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-100295, BELL-CVE-2026-89496, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-89496, GHSA-wxhh-3jvh-r4hp, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-89496

## What is CVE-2026-89496?

CVE-2026-89496 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 11 Sep 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:

ocfs2: always run deallocs on copy-on-write completion

Local fuzzing of 6.12.94 has found the following memory leak
caused by doing 'copy_file_range()' within the same filesystem:

unreferenced object 0xffff88812192c980 (size 32):
  comm "syz.0.49", pid 12095, jiffies 4294964143
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
    c0 c5 92 21 81 88 ff ff 00 02 00 00 00 06 00 00  ...!............
  backtrace (crc 7068d63f):
    kmemleak_alloc_recursive include/linux/kmemleak.h:42 [inline]
    slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4152 [inline]
    slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4197 [inline]
    __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x168/0x2c0 mm/slub.c:4358
    kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:878 [inline]
    ocfs2_find_per_slot_free_list fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:6618 [inline]
    ocfs2_cache_block_dealloc+0x155/0x4b0 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:6786
    ocfs2_cache_extent_block_free fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:6819 [inline]
    ocfs2_unlink_path+0x286/0x450 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:2613
    ocfs2_rotate_subtree_left fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:2779 [inline]
    __ocfs2_rotate_tree_left+0x1f6f/0x2da0 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:2985
    ocfs2_rotate_tree_left+0x283/0xe00 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:3237
    ocfs2_try_to_merge_extent+0xf56/0x1a20 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:3825
    ocfs2_split_extent+0x15f4/0x2940 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:5138
    ocfs2_clear_ext_refcount+0x2f6/0x550 fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3098
    ocfs2_replace_clusters fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3131 [inline]
    ocfs2_make_clusters_writable fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3255 [inline]
    ocfs2_replace_cow+0x991/0x1660 fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3349
    ocfs2_refcount_cow_hunk fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3427 [inline]
    ocfs2_refcount_cow+0x5e1/0x9f0 fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3470
    ocfs2_prepare_inode_for_write fs/ocfs2/file.c:2340 [inline]
    ocfs2_file_write_iter+0xbda/0x1880 fs/ocfs2/file.c:2451
    iter_file_splice_write+0x890/0xf60 fs/splice.c:743
    do_splice_from fs/splice.c:944 [inline]
    direct_splice_actor+0x232/0x480 fs/splice.c:1167
    splice_direct_to_actor+0x4b4/0xb60 fs/splice.c:1111
    do_splice_direct_actor fs/splice.c:1210 [inline]
    do_splice_direct+0x10f/0x1c0 fs/splice.c:1236
    do_sendfile+0x430/0xbf0 fs/read_write.c:1388

unreferenced object 0xffff88812192c5c0 (size 32):
  comm "syz.0.49", pid 12095, jiffies 4294964143
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
    29 70 00 00 00 00 00 00 19 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  )p..............
  backtrace (crc afec850f):
    kmemleak_alloc_recursive include/linux/kmemleak.h:42 [inline]
    slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4152 [inline]
    slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4197 [inline]
    __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x168/0x2c0 mm/slub.c:4358
    kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:878 [inline]
    kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1014 [inline]
    ocfs2_cache_block_dealloc+0x25c/0x4b0 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:6793
    ocfs2_cache_extent_block_free fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:6819 [inline]
    ocfs2_unlink_path+0x286/0x450 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:2613
    ocfs2_rotate_subtree_left fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:2779 [inline]
    __ocfs2_rotate_tree_left+0x1f6f/0x2da0 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:2985
    ocfs2_rotate_tree_left+0x283/0xe00 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:3237
    ocfs2_try_to_merge_extent+0xf56/0x1a20 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:3825
    ocfs2_split_extent+0x15f4/0x2940 fs/ocfs2/alloc.c:5138
    ocfs2_clear_ext_refcount+0x2f6/0x550 fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3098
    ocfs2_replace_clusters fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3131 [inline]
    ocfs2_make_clusters_writable fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3255 [inline]
    ocfs2_replace_cow+0x991/0x1660 fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3349
    ocfs2_refcount_cow_hunk fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3427 [inline]
    ocfs2_refcount_cow+0x5e1/0x9f0 fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c:3470
    ocfs2_prepare_inode_for_write fs/ocfs2/file.c:2340 [inline]
    ocfs2_file_write_iter+0xbda/0x1880 fs/ocfs2/file.c:2451
    iter_file_splice_write+0x890/0xf60 fs/splice.c:743
    do_splice_from fs/splice.c:9
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-89496?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-89496?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-89496 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-89496 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-89496 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-89496 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 11 Sep 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-2026-89496 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-2026-89496/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-89496/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-89496
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-89496
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-89496

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-89496/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.