Vulnerability in Linux kernel (CVE-2026-97416)
Summary
Vulnerability in Linux kernel (CVE-2026-97416). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
btrfs: balance: fix potential bg lookup failure in btrfs_may_alloc_data_chunk()
[BUG]
Running btrfs balance can trigger a null-ptr-deref before relocating a
data chunk when metadata corruption leaves a chunk in the chunk tree
without a corresponding block group in the in-memory cache:
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000088-0x000000000000008f]
RIP: 0010:btrfs_may_alloc_data_chunk+0x40/0x1c0 fs/btrfs/volumes.c:3601
Call Trace:
__btrfs_balance fs/btrfs/volumes.c:4217 [inline]
btrfs_balance+0x2516/0x42b0 fs/btrfs/volumes.c:4604
btrfs_ioctl_balance fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:3577 [inline]
btrfs_ioctl+0x25cf/0x5b90 fs/btrfs/ioctl.c:5313
...
[CAUSE]
__btrfs_balance() iterates the on-disk chunk tree and passes the chunk
logical bytenr to btrfs_may_alloc_data_chunk() before relocating a data
chunk. That helper then queries the in-memory block group cache:
cache = btrfs_lookup_block_group(fs_info, chunk_offset);
chunk_type = cache->flags; /* cache may be NULL */
A corrupt image can contain a chunk item whose matching block group
item is missing, so no block group is ever inserted into the cache. In
that case btrfs_lookup_block_group() returns NULL.
The code only guards this with ASSERT(cache), which becomes a no-op when
CONFIG_BTRFS_ASSERT is disabled. The subsequent dereference of
cache->flags therefore crashes the kernel.
[FIX]
Add a NULL check after btrfs_lookup_block_group(…
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD GitHub Advisory
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-97416 has been found in Linux kernel.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Linux kernel CVE-2026-97416" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-97416 (Linux kernel)
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (unclassified) exists in Linux kernel.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Linux kernel.
Severity: ?. Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Audit SBOM/dependencies to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
Audit SBOM/dependencies for affected components.資産台帳・SBOM・依存マニフェストで Linux kernel を使っているサービスとバージョンを洗い出す。
-
2Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
Fix status by distribution
Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97416 linux Fixed in: 6.1.190-1
- Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97416 linux
References
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- advisory github.com
- package git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web github.com