Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
writeback: don't block sync for filesystems with no data integrity guarantees
Add a SB_I_NO_DATA_INTEGRITY superblock flag for filesystems that cannot
guarantee data persistence on sync (eg fuse). For superblocks with this
flag set, sync kicks off writeback of dirty inodes but does not wait
for the flusher threads to complete the writeback.
This replaces the per-inode AS_NO_DATA_INTEGRITY mapping flag added in
commit f9a49aa302a0 ("fs/writeback: skip AS_NO_DATA_INTEGRITY mappings
in wait_sb_inodes()"). The flag belongs at the superblock level because
data integrity is a filesystem-wide property, not a per-inode one.
Having this flag at the superblock level also allows us to skip having
to iterate every dirty inode in wait_sb_inodes() only to skip each inode
individually.
Prior to this commit, mappings with no data integrity guarantees skipped
waiting on writeback completion but still waited on the flusher threads
to finish initiating the writeback. Waiting on the flusher threads is
unnecessary. This commit kicks off writeback but does not wait on the
flusher threads. This change properly addresses a recent report [1] for
a suspend-to-RAM hang seen on fuse-overlayfs that was caused by waiting
on the flusher threads to finish:
Workqueue: pm_fs_sync pm_fs_sync_work_fn
Call Trace:
<TASK>
__schedule+0x457/0x1720
schedule+0x27/0xd0
wb_wait_for_completion+0x97/0xe0
sync_inodes_sb+0xf8/0x2e0
__iterate_supers+0xdc/0x160
ksys_sync+0x43/0xb0
pm_fs_sync_work_fn+0x17/0xa0
process_one_work+0x193/0x350
worker_thread+0x1a1/0x310
kthread+0xfc/0x240
ret_from_fork+0x243/0x280
ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30
</TASK>
On fuse this is problematic because there are paths that may cause the
flusher thread to block (eg if systemd freezes the user session cgroups
first, which freezes the fuse daemon, before invoking the kernel
suspend. The kernel suspend triggers ->write_node() which on fuse issues
a synchronous setattr request, which cannot be processed since the
daemon is frozen. Or if the daemon is buggy and cannot properly complete
writeback, initiating writeback on a dirty folio already under writeback
leads to writeback_get_folio() -> folio_prepare_writeback() ->
unconditional wait on writeback to finish, which will cause a hang).
This commit restores fuse to its prior behavior before tmp folios were
removed, where sync was essentially a no-op.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.16 | 6.18.21 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | linux | 6.19.11-1 | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 25.10 | linux +8 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-riscv +23 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | linux-riscv +32 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | linux-gke +28 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | linux-gcp +14 | No fix yet | — |
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | linux-hwe-edge | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS | linux-realtime-6.14 +1 | No fix yet | — |
Amazon Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux 2023 | kernel-livepatch-6.18.25-52.107 | 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-1746 |
| Amazon Linux 2023 | perf6.18 +11 | 1:6.18.25-52.107.amzn2023 | ALAS2023-2026-1746 |
Advisories 2
- WID-SEC-2026-1252 Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Nov 12, 2026
- ALAS2023-2026-1746 Important: kernel6.18 security update (Amazon Linux 2023) Amazon Linux Security Center (ALAS) · Jul 1, 2026