---
id: CVE-2026-53174
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  ovl: keep err zero after successful ovl_cache_get()

  ovl_iterate_merged() stores PTR_ERR(cache) in err before checking
  IS_ERR(cache)
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  ovl: keep err zero after successful ovl_cache_get()

  ovl_iterate_merged() stores PTR_ERR(cache) in err before checking
  IS_ERR(cache). On success err holds the truncated…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
vendor: linux
product: linux_kernel
affected:
  - 'linux_kernel >= 6.19, < 7.0.13'
  - linux_kernel = 7.1
patched:
  - linux_kernel 7.0.13
published: '2026-06-25'
updated: '2026-07-06'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53174'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1711b6ed6953cee5940ca4c3a6e77f1b3798cee2'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e7051909a01bfb883bfa78b27514854068ac4b85'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00165
epssPercentile: 0.0505
ingestedAt: '2026-07-06T17:44:51.373Z'
---

## Overview

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

ovl: keep err zero after successful ovl_cache_get()

ovl_iterate_merged() stores PTR_ERR(cache) in err before checking
IS_ERR(cache). On success err holds the truncated cache pointer and
can be returned as a bogus non-zero error.

The syzbot reproducer reaches this through overlay-on-overlay readdir:

  getdents64
    iterate_dir(outer overlay file)
      ovl_iterate_merged()
        ovl_cache_get()
          ovl_dir_read_merged()
            ovl_dir_read()
              iterate_dir(inner overlay file)
                ovl_iterate_merged()

Only compute PTR_ERR(cache) on the error path.

## Affected

- `linux_kernel >= 6.19, < 7.0.13`
- `linux_kernel = 7.1`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `linux_kernel 7.0.13`