---
id: CVE-2026-98854
title: 'of/overlay: only treat a positive changeset id as registered'
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  of/overlay: only treat a positive changeset id as registered

  of_overlay_fdt_apply() stores the idr_alloc() return value in
  ovcs->id before checking it. On failure the …
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1 <
    c08a54df9d33dcd6ff089adc9434b2c008af3a39
  - >-
    Linux >= 61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1 <
    0d1525fdcd3355672b7485d61e55df6824ab5ad1
  - >-
    Linux >= 61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1 <
    c875407c34dadaef0599834ad9c815f4c9f50d15
  - >-
    Linux >= 61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1 <
    44081d708b5b885487bac792db78324b7b4c267d
  - Linux 4.15
published: '2026-10-18'
updated: '2026-10-18'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-18T15:51:06.167Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98854'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c08a54df9d33dcd6ff089adc9434b2c008af3a39'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0d1525fdcd3355672b7485d61e55df6824ab5ad1'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c875407c34dadaef0599834ad9c815f4c9f50d15'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/44081d708b5b885487bac792db78324b7b4c267d'
tags:
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-10-18T16:47:32.461Z'
---

## Overview

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

of/overlay: only treat a positive changeset id as registered

of_overlay_fdt_apply() stores the idr_alloc() return value in
ovcs->id before checking it. On failure the stored id is negative,
free_overlay_changeset()'s "if (ovcs->id)" check passes, idr_remove()
is called with a negative id and list_del() runs on ovcs->ovcs_list,
which is not initialized until after the id allocation. An allocation
failure at that point dereferences NULL.

Make free_overlay_changeset() treat only a strict-positive id as
registered. The rest of the function already copes with a
partially-initialized ovcs, so the error path stays a plain
goto err_free_ovcs.

## Affected

- `Linux >= 61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1 < c08a54df9d33dcd6ff089adc9434b2c008af3a39`
- `Linux >= 61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1 < 0d1525fdcd3355672b7485d61e55df6824ab5ad1`
- `Linux >= 61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1 < c875407c34dadaef0599834ad9c815f4c9f50d15`
- `Linux >= 61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1 < 44081d708b5b885487bac792db78324b7b4c267d`
- `Linux 4.15`

## Remediation

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