Linux Kernel up to 6.6.156/6.12.109/6.18.51/7.2.5 btrfs btrfs_read_merkle_tree_page state issue

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
6.2	$0-$5k	0.00+

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.156/6.12.109/6.18.51/7.2.5. The impacted element is the function btrfs_read_merkle_tree_page of the component btrfs. Executing a manipulation can lead to state issue. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2026-90262. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.156/6.12.109/6.18.51/7.2.5. It has been declared as critical. This vulnerability affects the function btrfs_read_merkle_tree_page of the component btrfs. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a state issue vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-371. As an impact it is known to affect availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: retry verity reads for not-uptodate Merkle folios btrfs_read_merkle_tree_page() can find a folio in the mapping that is not uptodate. After taking the folio lock, the current code treats that state as a read error and returns -EIO. That can make a previous transient read failure sticky. If the failed read left a not-uptodate folio in the mapping, later callers find that folio and fail instead of retrying the read. Keep the existing page-cache insertion and locking order, but retry the Merkle item read when a not-uptodate folio is found in the mapping. Also unlock the folio when read_key_bytes() fails so that a later caller can lock it and retry the read.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-90262 since 09/11/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be initiated remotely. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/17/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.6.157, 6.12.110, 6.18.52, 7.2.6 or 7.3-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 90e9eae1b5907fa36620ffb7f4f1a4afa9333427/c1fa005cdf3b7ff14cdfd7d512830088a3fc256b/12b6d1a1715cbced2e445ca353f9c9987b8636e2/81241f734f0f662378f5ffc53882b012923e6fe5/8cc569696dac51fc62bb39b3b8f530582b916d29 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.6.156
• 6.12.109
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.2

VulDB Base Score: 6.5
VulDB Temp Score: 6.2
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: State issue
CWE: CWE-371
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.6.157/6.12.110/6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc1
Patch: 90e9eae1b5907fa36620ffb7f4f1a4afa9333427/c1fa005cdf3b7ff14cdfd7d512830088a3fc256b/12b6d1a1715cbced2e445ca353f9c9987b8636e2/81241f734f0f662378f5ffc53882b012923e6fe5/8cc569696dac51fc62bb39b3b8f530582b916d29

Timelineinfo

09/11/2026 CVE reserved
09/17/2026 +6 days Advisory disclosed
09/17/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
09/17/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-90262 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-90262
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-406798

Entryinfo

Created: 09/17/2026 21:14
Changes: 09/17/2026 21:14 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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