HIGH Introduced in 6.10
xfs ReflinkFlag Corruption
CVE-2026-80530
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
KernelScan AI5.5MEDIUM
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfs: fix exchange-range reflink flag clearing issue with INO1_WRITTEN When exchanging two full-file ranges, xmi_can_exchange_reflink_flags() can move the reflink inode flag from the file that currently has it to the other file, as long as exactly one side is marked. This assumes that the file contents, and therefore all shared extents, are exchanged. That assumption is not true when XFS_EXCHMAPS_INO1_WRITTEN is set. xfs_exchmaps_can_skip_mapping() can skip hole and unwritten mappings from file1, so an exchange can complete without moving every mapping that the earlier flag-swap decision accounted for. In that case the post-operation cleanup can clear the reflink flag from an inode that still owns shared written extents. Later writes then take the non-reflink write path and may update blocks that should still have been protected by CoW, which shows up as data corruption between reflink-related files. Fix this by disabling the reflink flag exchange whenever XFS_EXCHMAPS_INO1_WRITTEN is requested. The contents exchange can still proceed; the conservative outcome is that both inodes keep the reflink flag. The regular reflink flag cleanup path can drop the extra flag later once the inode no longer has shared extents.
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
A local user with write access to XFS reflink files can trigger a code path that incorrectly clears the reflink inode flag while shared extents remain, leading to data corruption across reflinked files. The issue requires XFS with reflink enabled and the ability to perform file range exchanges.
Vulnerability analysis
When exchanging file ranges on XFS with a performance optimization that skips certain unwritten mappings, the kernel may incorrectly decide to swap the reflink status between two files even though not all shared data blocks were actually exchanged. This causes cleanup logic to remove the reflink mark from a file that still shares extents with others. Later writes to that file then bypass copy-on-write protection and overwrite shared blocks, corrupting data in related files. The fix prevents the reflink status swap whenever that optimization is in use, keeping both files conservatively marked as reflink until normal cleanup can safely remove the mark. The vulnerability is reachable by any local user who can perform file range exchange operations on an XFS filesystem with reflink enabled.
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.12 | 6.10 | 6.12.105 | 2efbd8890b53 |
| 6.18 | 6.10 | 6.18.46 | 0f27b22343b6 |
| 7.1 | 6.10 | 7.1.10 | 03c9c9116e6d |
| mainline | 6.10 | 7.2 | b2d5a81dae38 |
| cip/6.12 | 6.10 | 6.12.108-cip31 | 2efbd8890b53 |