CVE-2026-23238 PUBLISHED

romfs: check sb_set_blocksize() return value

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 13.01.2026 Published: 04.03.2026 Updated: 04.03.2026

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

romfs: check sb_set_blocksize() return value

romfs_fill_super() ignores the return value of sb_set_blocksize(), which can fail if the requested block size is incompatible with the block device's configuration.

This can be triggered by setting a loop device's block size larger than PAGE_SIZE using ioctl(LOOP_SET_BLOCK_SIZE, 32768), then mounting a romfs filesystem on that device.

When sb_set_blocksize(sb, ROMBSIZE) is called with ROMBSIZE=4096 but the device has logical_block_size=32768, bdev_validate_blocksize() fails because the requested size is smaller than the device's logical block size. sb_set_blocksize() returns 0 (failure), but romfs ignores this and continues mounting.

The superblock's block size remains at the device's logical block size (32768). Later, when sb_bread() attempts I/O with this oversized block size, it triggers a kernel BUG in folio_set_bh():

<pre>kernel BUG at fs/buffer.c:1582! BUG_ON(size > PAGE_SIZE); </pre>

Fix by checking the return value of sb_set_blocksize() and failing the mount with -EINVAL if it returns 0.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to a381f0f61b35c8894b0bd0d6acef2d8f9b08b244 (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to f2521ab1f63a8c244f06a080319e5ff9a2e1bd95 (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to 2c5829cd8fbbc91568c520b666898f57cdcb8cf6 (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to cbd9931e6456822067725354d83446c5bb813030 (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to 9b203b8ddd7359270e8a694d0584743555128e2c (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to 4b71ad7676564a94ec5f7d18298f51e8ae53db73 (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to ab7ad7abb3660c58ffffdf07ff3bb976e7e0afa0 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • unaffected from 5.10.251 to 5.10.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 5.15.201 to 5.15.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.1.164 to 6.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.6.127 to 6.6.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.74 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.13 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.19 to * (incl.)

References