# CVE-2026-98959: btrfs: fix xattr replace when multiple xattrs are packed in the same item


- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 23 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 24 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-110774, BELL-CVE-2026-98959, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98959, GHSA-cf5f-cwf6-82gc, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98959

## What is CVE-2026-98959?

CVE-2026-98959 is a critical vulnerability in Linux, published on 23 Oct 2026. 

### Official description

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

btrfs: fix xattr replace when multiple xattrs are packed in the same item

If we have a btrfs_dir_item item that packs multiple xattrs and then we
replace the value of one of them (with the setxattr(2) family of syscalls)
with another value of a different size, we end up not having a fully
initialized btrfs_dir_item, resulting in a corruption that the tree
checker will detect at extent buffer writeback time.

This is because in btrfs_setxattr() when we find a btrfs_dir_item with
multiple xattrs (due to the crc32c hash of their name being the same)
we delete one of the xattr items (btrfs_dir_item) and then insert a new
one, but the deletion and insertion results in shifting existing data in
the leaf and therefore when the new value of a xattr has a different size,
the new btrfs_dir_item is placed in a leaf section that was not
initialized and we only copy the value's data and set the value's length
in the new btrfs_dir_item, without setting the name, the name's length,
the key (which must be all zeroes for xattrs), flags (BTRFS_FT_XATTR) and
transaction ID.

The following script reproduces the issue:

  $ cat test.sh
  #!/bin/bash

  DEV=/dev/sdi
  MNT=/mnt/sdi

  mkfs.btrfs -f $DEV
  mount $DEV $MNT

  touch $MNT/testfile

  # Add two xattrs that, on btrfs, have the same hash (crc32c) for their
  # name and therefore are packed into the same btrfs_dir_item.
  setfattr -n user.foobar -v 123 $MNT/testfile
  setfattr -n user.WvG1c1Td -v qwerty $MNT/testfile

  # Verify the xattrs are present.
  echo "xattrs before:"
  getfattr --absolute-names --dump $MNT/testfile

  # Now replace the value of the foobar xattr with a significantly larger
  # value.
  setfattr -n user.foobar -v abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz $MNT/testfile

  # Check the xattrs have the expected values.
  echo "xattrs after:"
  getfattr --absolute-names --dump $MNT/testfile

  umount $MNT

Running it:

  $ ./test.sh
  (...)
  xattrs before:
  # file: /mnt/sdi/testfile
  user.WvG1c1Td="qwerty"
  user.foobar="123"

  xattrs after:
  # file: /mnt/sdi/testfile
  user.WvG1c1Td="qwerty"

So the "user.foobar" xattr is missing and there was a transaction abort
when unmounting the fs with the following traces in dmesg:

  $ dmesg
  [869800.159271] BTRFS warning (device sdi): access to eb bytenr 30474240 len 16384 out of range start 16015 len 25964
  [869800.159293] ------------[ cut here ]------------
  [869800.159296] WARNING: fs/btrfs/extent_io.c:4408 at report_eb_range+0x44/0x60 [btrfs], CPU#8: getfattr/2605179
  [869800.168961] Modules linked in: btrfs dm_thin_pool (...)
  [869800.190527] CPU: 8 UID: 0 PID: 2605179 Comm: getfattr Tainted: G        W           7.3.0-rc3-btrfs-next-244+ #1 PREEMPT(full)
  [869800.193726] Tainted: [W]=WARN
  [869800.194502] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.2-0-gea1b7a073390-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
  [869800.197576] RIP: 0010:report_eb_range+0x44/0x60 [btrfs]
  [869800.198985] Code: 48 8b 7b 18 (...)
  [869800.203531] RSP: 0018:ffffce4541937d58 EFLAGS: 00010246
  [869800.204609] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8dde054b8738 RCX: 0000000000000000
  [869800.206137] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: ffffffffc04c92a0
  [869800.207645] RBP: 0000000000003e8f R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 3fffffffffefffff
  [869800.226175] R10: ffffce4541937a88 R11: 0000000000000003 R12: 000000000000656c
  [869800.227594] R13: ffff8dde14be800f R14: 000000000000656c R15: 0000000000000069
  [869800.229097] FS:  00007f59023bb780(0000) GS:ffff8de5788ed000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
  [869800.231137] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
  [869800.232321] CR2: 0000558dc45e6a78 CR3: 0000000765b16004 CR4: 0000000000370ef0
  [869800.233783] Call Trace:
  [869800.234330]  <TASK>
  [869800.234791]  read_extent_buffer+0x4d/0x100 [btrfs]
  [869800.235898]  btrfs_listxattr+0x199/0x240 [btrfs]
  [869800.236912]  vfs_listxattr+0x51/0
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98959?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98959?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2026-98959 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98959 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98959 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98959 is a critical vulnerability in Linux, published on 23 Oct 2026. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98959 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-2026-98959/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98959/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98959
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98959
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98959

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98959/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.