CVE-2026-89649: ceph: bound xattr value length in __build_xattrs()

Published Sep 11, 2026
·
Updated

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

ceph: bound xattr value length in buildxattrs()

buildxattrs() decodes the MDS-supplied xattr blob one attribute at a time. For each attribute it reads a 32-bit name length, advances past the name bytes, reads a 32-bit value length, records the value pointer, and advances past the value bytes. The two length fields are read with cephdecode32safe(), but the value bytes themselves are advanced over with a bare "p += len" and no cephdecodeneed() check that "len" bytes remain in the blob.

For every attribute except the last, the next iteration's cephdecode32safe() on the following name length implicitly verifies that the previous value did not run past the blob end. The final attribute has no successor, so its decoded value length is never checked against the blob bounds. A malicious or compromised metadata server can set the last attribute's value length larger than the bytes actually present in the blob.

The blob is a dedicated kvmalloc() allocation sized to the wire length (cephbuffernew() in cephfillinode()). setxattr() records the oversized length in xattr->vallen verbatim, and a later getxattr(2) runs memcpy(value, xattr->val, xattr->vallen) into a user-supplied buffer, copying bytes past the end of the allocation back to user space.

Impact: a malicious metadata server discloses adjacent kernel heap bytes to a local user via getxattr(2) on a CephFS file. Add the missing cephdecodeneed() so an out-of-bounds value length on the final attribute fails the decode and returns -EIO instead of being stored.

Affected Software

1 affected component
Linux Linux kernel

Event History

Sep 11, 2026
CVE Published
via MITRE·07:45 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·07:45 PM
Description

Frequently Asked Questions

1

Which systems are exposed to this issue?

Systems using the Linux kernel Ceph client are exposed when they receive extended-attribute data from a malicious or compromised Ceph Metadata Server (MDS). The malformed data is delivered in an MDS-supplied xattr blob.

2

What must an attacker control to trigger the flaw?

An attacker needs to control or compromise the metadata server sufficiently to provide an xattr blob whose final attribute declares a value length larger than the remaining bytes in the blob. The issue specifically relies on the missing bounds check for the last attribute's value bytes.

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