Medium 5.5Published May 27, 2026

CVE-2026-45915fat: avoid parent link count underflow in rmdir

Updated under an hour ago (Oct 26, 2026, 11:30 PM ET)

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Exploited in the last 30 days

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fat: avoid parent link count underflow in rmdir Corrupted FAT images can leave a directory inode with an incorrect i_nlink (e.g. 2 even though subdirectories exist). rmdir then unconditionally calls drop_nlink(dir) and can drive i_nlink to 0, triggering the WARN_ON in drop_nlink(). Add a sanity check in vfat_rmdir() and msdos_rmdir(): only drop the parent link count when it is at least 3, otherwise report a filesystem error.

CVSS: 5.5 MEDIUM (v3.1, NVD)CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness (CWE): Not given
Known exploited: Not in CISA's KEV catalog
EPSS (exploitation in the next 30 days): Not loaded for this CVE
Assigned by: Linux
NVD analysis: Undergoing Analysis
Record last updated: May 27, 2026
First seen by InfoSec Signals: Oct 9, 2026

Affected products

Affected products

Linux Linux linux:linux (from the name)	9a53c3a783c2fa9b969628e65695c11c3e51e673 builds before 7fe0de287e931e07cb96ecf1f449b2ebdb0e1115; from 9a53c3a783c2fa9b969628e65695c11c3e51e673 before 9894c79fd9466612d0514be157b5c30cd93aa645; from 9a53c3a783c2fa9b969628e65695c11c3e51e673 before cd569b87378b9c33ae13c23d6bb9d205d66f7c4b; from 9a53c3a783c2fa9b969628e65695c11c3e51e673 before d3b7ffa90f613938128432c7b2f35b7aa4bdd86b; from 9a53c3a783c2fa9b969628e65695c11c3e51e673 before 955c5d670b5ae07c78f4345e23a895638db96ce1; from 9a53c3a783c2fa9b969628e65695c11c3e51e673 before 17866f8a0822d414cb02e621cf003a7d04396ef8; from 9a53c3a783c2fa9b969628e65695c11c3e51e673 before d0bb592fa9def2bace90ac8926c0a1d6fa8c1aa0; 9a53c3a783c2fa9b969628e65695c11c3e51e673 builds before 8cafcb881364af5ef3a8b9fed4db254054033d8a	CNA record
linux linux_kernel linux:linux_kernel	from 2.6.19 before 5.10.252; from 5.11 before 5.15.202; from 5.16 before 6.1.165; from 6.2 before 6.6.128; from 6.7 before 6.12.75; from 6.13 before 6.18.14; from 6.19 before 6.19.4	NVD

References

References

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7fe0de287e931e07cb96ecf1f449b2ebdb0e1115	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9894c79fd9466612d0514be157b5c30cd93aa645	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cd569b87378b9c33ae13c23d6bb9d205d66f7c4b	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d3b7ffa90f613938128432c7b2f35b7aa4bdd86b	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/955c5d670b5ae07c78f4345e23a895638db96ce1	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/17866f8a0822d414cb02e621cf003a7d04396ef8	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0bb592fa9def2bace90ac8926c0a1d6fa8c1aa0	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8cafcb881364af5ef3a8b9fed4db254054033d8a	patch

The CVE record on cve.org NVD's entry

The CVE record is authoritative. Products marked “from the name” were identified from the CNA's free-text names, not a CPE, and are matched less certainly. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.