Linux Kernel IMA: Early Error on XATTR Change in Read-Only FS
CVE-2026-98885 Published on October 23, 2026
ima: return error early if file xattr cannot be changed
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ima: return error early if file xattr cannot be changed
During early boot, the filesystem is read-only and any changes
to xattrs are not allowed. This fails in case of ext4 because
changing xattr starts an ext4 transaction which fails with the
following warning.
WARNING: fs/ext4/ext4_jbd2.c:75 at ext4_journal_check_start+0x63/0xa0 [ext4], CPU#1: systemd-sysroot/561
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 561 Comm: systemd-sysroot Not tainted 6.19.12-1-default #1 PREEMPT(voluntary) openSUSE Tumbleweed c2dfc3c9d9f6f1233251c5d4410574fe82a348ee
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS unknown 02/02/2022
RIP: 0010:ext4_journal_check_start+0x63/0xa0 [ext4]
Call Trace:
__ext4_journal_start_sb+0x3e/0x180 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
ext4_xattr_set+0x104/0x150 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
__vfs_setxattr+0x9a/0xd0
__vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x76/0x1f0
ima_appraise_measurement+0x23e/0xe40
ima_d_path+0x5a/0xd0
process_measurement+0xb29/0xc40
? copy_from_kernel_nofault+0x21/0xe0
? fscrypt_file_open+0xc0/0xe0
? ext4_file_open+0x60/0x490 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
? bpf_prog_31efb7c56239148b_restrict_filesystems+0xab/0x126
? __bpf_prog_exit+0x23/0xd0
? __bpf_tramp_exit+0xd/0x50
? bpf_trampoline_6442530367+0x9f/0xea
ima_file_check+0x57/0x80
security_file_post_open+0x50/0xf0
path_openat+0x493/0x1650
do_filp_open+0xc7/0x170
Detect the state of the file early and return the error.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-98885
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Affected Versions
Linux:- Version 07f6a79415d7d502ee0c7d02ace6594a7be7429a and below 86acb68ebb220b83def94e7f4c33e24e843970e0 is affected.
- Version 07f6a79415d7d502ee0c7d02ace6594a7be7429a and below 4d98295357bcacb70874e73117e298a9d7d9b830 is affected.
- Version 07f6a79415d7d502ee0c7d02ace6594a7be7429a and below c6988714c0549e06610635c7a71e88635da6db64 is affected.
- Version 07f6a79415d7d502ee0c7d02ace6594a7be7429a and below 8c77312728d07b60fc028f676e42d842df918bcd is affected.
- Version 07f6a79415d7d502ee0c7d02ace6594a7be7429a and below dce1b66fcfb40c935f426f602c3a41a7b9f62ba4 is affected.
- Version 07f6a79415d7d502ee0c7d02ace6594a7be7429a and below 2f29f880e98bf0087215726c45a485afd15b42cf is affected.
- Version 07f6a79415d7d502ee0c7d02ace6594a7be7429a and below 69fc6474236d9edda6983623e4282f2bdfd8e3d8 is affected.
- Version 3.7 is affected.
- Before 3.7 is unaffected.
- Version 5.10.271, <= 5.10.* is unaffected.
- Version 5.15.222, <= 5.15.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.1.189, <= 6.1.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.6.158, <= 6.6.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.12.111, <= 6.12.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.18.53, <= 6.18.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.2, <= * is unaffected.