---
id: CVE-2026-72160
title: 'ocfs2: reject dinodes with non-canonical i_mode type'
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  ocfs2: reject dinodes with non-canonical i_mode type

  Patch series "ocfs2: harden inode validators against forged metadata", v2.

  This series adds three structural chec…
severity: high
cvss: 8.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 <
    2e3aac33988ef4e4170141db8e995693ea38357c
  - >-
    Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 <
    fb024ea29f6cb1f01745e5f2e31646f3acb9aa6f
  - >-
    Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 <
    157d31ef45038d89cd19620105e082d43c8e41e0
  - >-
    Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 <
    a5b555bcabbb0aff8745ad181768eaf9d964c1ee
  - >-
    Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 <
    82afe13558354390d8a592a5334d5f4fd72c0e5c
  - >-
    Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 <
    4db3b6a2a8ecf2a89d26a4090ace4072c6fad050
  - >-
    Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 <
    b858f2d57cfc9d57ce61b86051d603dc0ebccd40
  - >-
    Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 <
    5366a017099c6a3c443be908a05f26fd72af12a1
  - Linux 2.6.29
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-10-16T18:43:05.217168Z'
published: '2026-08-15'
updated: '2026-10-16'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-16T18:44:59.633Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72160'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2e3aac33988ef4e4170141db8e995693ea38357c'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fb024ea29f6cb1f01745e5f2e31646f3acb9aa6f'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/157d31ef45038d89cd19620105e082d43c8e41e0'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a5b555bcabbb0aff8745ad181768eaf9d964c1ee'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/82afe13558354390d8a592a5334d5f4fd72c0e5c'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4db3b6a2a8ecf2a89d26a4090ace4072c6fad050'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b858f2d57cfc9d57ce61b86051d603dc0ebccd40'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5366a017099c6a3c443be908a05f26fd72af12a1'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.0065
epssPercentile: 0.50125
ingestedAt: '2026-10-16T19:46:24.427Z'
---

## Overview

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

ocfs2: reject dinodes with non-canonical i_mode type

Patch series "ocfs2: harden inode validators against forged metadata", v2.

This series adds three structural checks to OCFS2 dinode validation so
malformed on-disk fields are rejected before ocfs2_populate_inode() copies
them into the in-core inode.

The checks cover:

  - i_mode values whose type bits do not name a canonical POSIX file
    type;
  - non-device dinodes whose id1.dev1.i_rdev field is non-zero; and
  - non-inline dinodes that claim non-zero i_size while i_clusters is
    zero, covering directories unconditionally and regular files on
    non-sparse volumes.

The normal read path reports these through ocfs2_error(), matching the
existing suballoc-slot, inline-data, chain-list, and refcount checks.  The
online filecheck path uses the same structural predicates but keeps its
own reporting contract, returning OCFS2_FILECHECK_ERR_INVALIDINO instead
of calling ocfs2_error().


This patch (of 3):

ocfs2_validate_inode_block() currently accepts any non-zero i_mode value. 
ocfs2_populate_inode() then copies that mode verbatim into inode->i_mode
and dispatches on i_mode & S_IFMT to the file/dir/symlink/special_file
iops; an unrecognised type falls through to ocfs2_special_file_iops and
init_special_inode().

Reject dinodes whose type bits do not name one of the seven canonical
POSIX file types.  Use fs_umode_to_ftype(), the same generic file-type
conversion helper OCFS2 already uses for directory entries, so the
accepted inode type set matches the kernel file-type vocabulary instead of
open-coding a local switch.

Apply the same structural check to the online filecheck read path. 
filecheck keeps its own error namespace, so it reports malformed i_mode
through the filecheck logger and OCFS2_FILECHECK_ERR_INVALIDINO instead of
calling ocfs2_error(), but it must not allow a malformed dinode to proceed
into ocfs2_populate_inode().

## Affected

- `Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 < 2e3aac33988ef4e4170141db8e995693ea38357c`
- `Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 < fb024ea29f6cb1f01745e5f2e31646f3acb9aa6f`
- `Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 < 157d31ef45038d89cd19620105e082d43c8e41e0`
- `Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 < a5b555bcabbb0aff8745ad181768eaf9d964c1ee`
- `Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 < 82afe13558354390d8a592a5334d5f4fd72c0e5c`
- `Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 < 4db3b6a2a8ecf2a89d26a4090ace4072c6fad050`
- `Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 < b858f2d57cfc9d57ce61b86051d603dc0ebccd40`
- `Linux >= b657c95c11088d77fc1bfc9c84d940f778bf9d12 < 5366a017099c6a3c443be908a05f26fd72af12a1`
- `Linux 2.6.29`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.