# CVE-2026-98279: btrfs: handle lack of space when cleaning up verity items

CVE-2026-98279 is fixed in linux on 1 platform by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98279 (version 7.2.8-1), released October 6, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Urgent.

- Web page: https://patchblox.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-98279
- Priority: Urgent
- CVSS: 9.8 (Critical)
- EPSS: 0.0017
- CISA KEV: not listed
- Exploited (vendor report): no
- Publicly disclosed: no
- Published: Oct 6, 2026
- Vendor advisory: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98279

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:  btrfs: handle lack of space when cleaning up verity items  When enable_verity() hits the qgroup limit, rollback_verity() needs its own metadata reservation. When the qgroup limit or lack of space refuses the rollback, the whole filesystem is forced read-only even though the qgroup limit was for one subvolume only. Also orphan cleanup at the next mount fails the same way, so the leftover items are never removed: with -EDQUOT the subvolume stays unreachable, and with -ENOSPC on a full filesystem the next read-write mount fails.  Start transactions with btrfs_start_transaction_fallback_global_rsv() in btrfs_orphan_cleanup(), drop_verity_items() and rollback_verity(). Those calls only delete items and free the space in the end, so they may use the global reserve and skip the qgroup limit, which avoids -ENOSPC and -EDQUOT.

## Where it's fixed

| Platform | Product | Fixed in | Fix | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | linux Debian 14 | 7.2.8-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98279](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-98279.md) | Oct 6, 2026 |

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Data as of 2026-11-09T01:18:40Z UTC. Source: Patchblox Patch Radar (https://patchblox.com/security/patch-radar). Patchblox finds out-of-date software on Windows, macOS and Linux and updates it through release rings: https://patchblox.com/demo

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