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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-46002

critical Nessus Plugin ID 317166

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Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

 - ext2: reject inodes with zero i_nlink and valid mode in ext2_iget() ext2_iget() already rejects inodes with i_nlink == 0 when i_mode is zero or i_dtime is set, treating them as deleted. However, the case of i_nlink == 0 with a non-zero mode and zero dtime slips through. Since ext2 has no orphan list, such a combination can only result from filesystem corruption - a legitimate inode deletion always sets either i_dtime or clears i_mode before freeing the inode. A crafted image can exploit this gap to present such an inode to the VFS, which then triggers WARN_ON inside drop_nlink() (fs/inode.c) via ext2_unlink(), ext2_rename() and ext2_rmdir(): WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 609 at fs/inode.c:336 drop_nlink+0xad/0xd0 fs/inode.c:336 CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 609 Comm: syz-executor Not tainted 6.12.77+ #1 Call Trace: <TASK> inode_dec_link_count include/linux/fs.h:2518 [inline] ext2_unlink+0x26c/0x300 fs/ext2/namei.c:295 vfs_unlink+0x2fc/0x9b0 fs/namei.c:4477 do_unlinkat+0x53e/0x730 fs/namei.c:4541 __x64_sys_unlink+0xc6/0x110 fs/namei.c:4587 do_syscall_64+0xf5/0x220 arch/x86/entry/common.c:78 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f </TASK> WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 646 at fs/inode.c:336 drop_nlink+0xad/0xd0 fs/inode.c:336 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 646 Comm: syz.0.17 Not tainted 6.12.77+ #1 Call Trace: <TASK> inode_dec_link_count include/linux/fs.h:2518 [inline] ext2_rename+0x35e/0x850 fs/ext2/namei.c:374 vfs_rename+0xf2f/0x2060 fs/namei.c:5021 do_renameat2+0xbe2/0xd50 fs/namei.c:5178
 __x64_sys_rename+0x7e/0xa0 fs/namei.c:5223 do_syscall_64+0xf5/0x220 arch/x86/entry/common.c:78 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f </TASK> WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 634 at fs/inode.c:336 drop_nlink+0xad/0xd0 fs/inode.c:336 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 634 Comm: syz-executor Not tainted 6.12.77+ #1 Call Trace: <TASK> inode_dec_link_count include/linux/fs.h:2518 [inline] ext2_rmdir+0xca/0x110 fs/ext2/namei.c:311 vfs_rmdir+0x204/0x690 fs/namei.c:4348 do_rmdir+0x372/0x3e0 fs/namei.c:4407
 __x64_sys_unlinkat+0xf0/0x130 fs/namei.c:4577 do_syscall_64+0xf5/0x220 arch/x86/entry/common.c:78 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f </TASK> Extend the existing i_nlink == 0 check to also catch this case, reporting the corruption via ext2_error() and returning -EFSCORRUPTED. This rejects the inode at load time and prevents it from reaching any of the namei.c paths. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller. (CVE-2026-46002)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-46002

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 317166

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_46002.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 5/27/2026

Updated: 5/27/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 6.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-46002

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.8

Temporal Score: 9

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:linux, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 5/27/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-46002