CVE-2026-43179: erofs: fix incorrect early exits for invalid metabox-enabled images

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-05-06 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: erofs: fix incorrect early exits for invalid metabox-enabled images Crafted EROFS images with metadata compression enabled can trigger incorrect early returns, leading to folio reference leaks. However, this does not cause system crashes or other severe issues.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.17 before 6.18.16; from 6.19 before 6.19.6 — fixed in 6.18.16, 6.19.6

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.18.16, 6.19.6. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/041b5163bb9b2e81050bcd885b3373bf2f42d5f5
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56e4a84220045b6af0f1efc11825b39217c7decf
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/643575d5a4f24b23b0c54aa20aa74a4abed8ff5e

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