SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2026-53174

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).

HIGH 7.8EPSS 0.12%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.12%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

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.

CVSS 3.1
7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
0.12% probability · 2th percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Affected
linux/linux kernel
Source
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.