Linux Kernel: security vulnerability (CVE-2026-98684)
Published Last modified Sources: BSI, Msrc Update Guide, CVE.org
What is affected, what to do
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb: client: flush and commit data before querying allocated ranges The mode 0 / FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE fallocate emulation for small interior ranges in smb3_simple_fallocate_range() issues FSCTL_QUERY_ALLOCATED_RANGES and zero-fills any sub-range the server reports as an unallocated hole, to force block allocation without changing file contents. This is unsafe against Windows servers.
The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below.
Conflicting version data — version display is hidden until the data is resolved.
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Metrics
2.5
Priority
XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.
Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3
2.5
CVSS v3
Severity Low on the scale from 0 to 10.
Source: BSI, Msrc Update Guide, CVE.org
0.2 %
EPSS score
Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 5.8
Show all metrics
- Severity
- Low
Priority (0–325)
The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?
Read in glossary- 42.77 Methodology
Exploit maturity
An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.
Read in glossary- no public PoC known
XIEM Effective CVSS
XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.
Read in glossary- 2.5 Methodology
CVSS v3
CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.
Read in glossary- 2.5
EPSS score
The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.
Read in glossary- 0.2 %
- Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile
The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.
Read in glossary- 5.8
- Low — this CVE sits in the lower 10% of all CVEs scored today.
KEV status
The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.
Read in glossary- —
- Published
Detection rules
No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.
Classification under NIS2 and CRA
Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.
NIS2
NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.
Read in glossary- Handle the vulnerability in regular vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2.
CRA
The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.
Read in glossary- From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.
Read in glossary- Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb: client: flush and commit data before querying allocated ranges The mode 0 / FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE fallocate emulation for small interior ranges in smb3_simple_fallocate_range() issues FSCTL_QUERY_ALLOCATED_RANGES and zero-fills any sub-range the server reports as an unallocated hole, to force block allocation without changing file contents. This is unsafe against Windows servers. Per the Win32 documentation, FSCTL_QUERY_ALLOCATED_RANGES only reports ranges that *may* contain nonzero data and is explicitly not coherent with recently written data: "a call to FSCTL_QUERY_ALLOCATED_RANGES [after writing to a network file] would not necessarily return a correct list of allocated regions. To ensure coherency [...] flush the data to the file" fsx (generic/363) reproduces the resulting corruption against Windows Server 2022: a range is written, an uncached read returns the data, yet the next FSCTL_QUERY_ALLOCATED_RANGES on that range reports it as a whole hole, so the emulation overwrites live data with zeroes. A network trace confirmed the WRITE, the READ returning data and the query returning an empty range list within microseconds. Samba does not exhibit this; its query is coherent with the written data. Write back the dirty pages, drain any outstanding I/O and issue an SMB2 FLUSH to force the server to commit the data before querying the allocated ranges, so the query reflects the data actually present. With this, generic/363 passes against both Windows Server 2022 and Samba over 100000 fsx operations.
Source: BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF, Microsoft Security Update Guide, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST)
Affected products
The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.
| Affected versions | Fixed in | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux |
|
|
Vendors and products
References & sources
- git.kernel.orgstable/c/aa994489bd835547c191827acc460192e147032d
- git.kernel.orgstable/c/bf84e44ff0ed802778eafd7ecb623635379cb506
- git.kernel.orgstable/c/f82242fe3109a3ef72f429540b5bdde08fbfb0e4
Changes to this CVE
Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).
Record modifiedLinux
1 individual change: Affected versions (publisher)
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Affected versions (publisher) added —Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/98xxx/CVE-2026-98684.json">CVE-2026-98684</a>Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
ReceivedLinux
Description added or changed
Show 5 original changes
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD Type Action Before After Description added —In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb: client: flush and commit data before querying allocated ranges The mode 0 / FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE fallocate emulation for small interior ranges in smb3_simple_fallocate_range() issues FSCTL_QUERY_ALLOCATED_RANGES and zero-fills any sub-range the server reports as an unallocated hole, to force block allocation without changing file contents. This is unsafe against Windows servers. Per the Win32 documentation, FSCTL_QUERY_ALLOCATED_RANGES only reports ranges that *may* contain nonzero data and is explicitly not coherent with recently written data: "a call to FSCTL_QUERY_ALLOCATED_RANGES [after writing to a network file] would not necessarily return a correct list of allocated regions. To ensure coherency [...] flush the data to the file" fsx (generic/363) reproduces the resulting corruption against Windows Server 2022: a range is written, an uncached read returns the data, yet the next FSCTL_QUERY_ALLOCATED_RANGES on that range reports it as a whole hole, so the emulation overwrites live data with zeroes. A network trace confirmed the WRITE, the READ returning data and the query returning an empty range list within microseconds. Samba does not exhibit this; its query is coherent with the written data. Write back the dirty pages, drain any outstanding I/O and issue an SMB2 FLUSH to force the server to commit the data before querying the allocated ranges, so the query reflects the data actually present. With this, generic/363 passes against both Windows Server 2022 and Samba over 100000 fsx operations.Affected versions (publisher) added —New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/98xxx/CVE-2026-98684.json">CVE-2026-98684</a>Reference added —https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa994489bd835547c191827acc460192e147032dReference added —https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bf84e44ff0ed802778eafd7ecb623635379cb506Reference added —https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f82242fe3109a3ef72f429540b5bdde08fbfb0e4Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2026-98684"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2026-98684.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2026-98684 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>