Linux Kernel hfsplus fs/hfsplus/xattr.c hfsplus_setxattr null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel. It has been classified as critical. Affected is the function hfsplus_setxattr of the file fs/hfsplus/xattr.c of the component hfsplus. This manipulation causes null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-74414. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel (unknown version). Affected by this vulnerability is the function hfsplus_setxattr of the file fs/hfsplus/xattr.c of the component hfsplus. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hfsplus: Remove the duplicate attr inode dirty marking action Syzbot reported a null-ptr-deref in [1]. If the attributes file is not loaded during system mount, a trigger occurs [1] when setxattr is executed in userspace. Remove the first mark attr inode dirty operation. [1] KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000008-0x000000000000000f] Call Trace: hfsplus_setxattr+0x124/0x340 fs/hfsplus/xattr.c:555 hfsplus_trusted_setxattr+0x40/0x60 fs/hfsplus/xattr_trusted.c:30 __vfs_setxattr+0x43c/0x480 fs/xattr.c:218 __vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x12d/0x660 fs/xattr.c:252 vfs_setxattr+0x163/0x360 fs/xattr.c:339 do_setxattr fs/xattr.c:654 [inline]

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-74414 since 08/15/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/19/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 337946 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-74414), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Applying the patch b3c7ccb1a93cbb5a9a13196abf608ffa2516817e is able to eliminate this problem.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (337946). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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