Medium [CVE-2026-71222] Gfs2-utils: gfs2-utils: heap out-of-bounds read via unchecked ea_num_ptrs in extended attribute processing
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-71222 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.
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Summary
A heap out-of-bounds read vulnerability was found in gfs2-utils. The ea_num_ptrs field from on-disk extended attribute metadata is consumed without bounds validation, causing a heap buffer over-read that may disclose sensitive memory contents or cause a crash when processing crafted GFS2 filesystem images.
This vulnerability is assessed as Moderate impact because the ea_num_ptrs heap over-read is a read-only operation that cannot corrupt memory. The primary risk is information disclosure (heap memory contents leaked through tool output) and potential denial of service if the over-read crosses a page boundary.
Exploitation requires local access and user interaction (an administrator must run a gfs2-utils tool on the crafted image). The vulnerability does not affect the kernel GFS2 driver.
Red Hat severity: Moderate — CVSS 5.3 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:L). Weakness: CWE-125.
Affected Red Hat products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9. Red Hat does not currently list a fixing RHSA for this CVE.
Affected products named by the advisory: Red Hat package: gfs2-utils.src.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours ago·verify at source
Mitigation checklist
- Do not process untrusted GFS2 filesystem images with gfs2-utils tools. Run gfs2-utils tools in a containerized or VM-isolated environment when processing untrusted images.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours ago·verify at source
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