CVE-2026-98975

xfs: stop exchanging reflink flags when exchanging mappings

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfs: stop exchanging reflink flags when exchanging mappings When an exchange covers both files from offset 0 to i_disk_size, xmi_can_exchange_reflink_flags() assumes every mapping moved and hands the reflink flag over to the other file. That assumption is wrong. A file can still own shared blocks past i_disk_size, e.g. after EXCHANGE_RANGE_TO_EOF sets a smaller size without unmapping anything. The flag is cleared anyway, and the next write to such a block happens in place instead of CoW, corrupting the other file that shares it. Commit a23eca88448e ("xfs: fix exchange-range reflink flag clearing issue with INO1_WRITTEN") fixed one instance of this. Rather than add another special case, stop moving the flags. xfs_exchmaps_ensure_reflink() already sets the flag on both inodes before the exchange, so both just keep it. Nothing sets CLEAR_INO{1,2}_REFLINK anymore. Intents logged by older kernels may still carry them; recovery already masks them off, so they stay in the log format mask and are ignored. XFS_IOC_SWAPEXT has the same problem: it moves the reflink flag from one inode to the other along with the extents. Just removing that is not enough here: the exchange path flags both inodes up front in xfs_exchmaps_ensure_reflink(), but swapext has no such step, so the inode receiving the shared extents would be left without the flag. Set it on both inodes instead, and make sure both have a CoW fork, since an inode with the reflink flag is expected to have one. The flag now stays until FALLOC_FL_UNSHARE_RANGE, xfs_scrub, or a truncate to zero removes it.

Affected Versions

References