CVE-2026-46256 | NFS/localio: prevent direct reclaim recursion into NFS via nfs_writepages

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: NFS/localio: prevent direct reclaim recursion into NFS via nfs_writepages LOCALIO is an NFS loopback mount optimization that avoids using the network for READ, WRITE and COMMIT if the NFS client and server are determined to be on the same system. But because LOCALIO is still fundamentally "just NFS loopback mount" it is susceptible to recursion deadlock via direct reclaim, e.g.: NFS LOCALIO down to XFS and then back into NFS via nfs_writepages. Fix LOCALIO's potential for direct reclaim deadlock by ensuring that all its page cache allocations are done from GFP_NOFS context. Thanks to Ben Coddington for pointing out commit ad22c7a043c2 ("xfs: prevent stack overflows from page cache allocation").

Published: 2026-06-03 Last update: 2026-06-09 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-46256 is rated Low Risk (22.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.10%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-46256

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.02% 0.10% +0.08%
2 2026-06-04 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-46256

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-46256

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-46256

GHSA-44f9-rxj6-p8rg · Severity: medium — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: NFS/localio: prevent direct...

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-46256

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2026-46256 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-46256
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-46256
suse medium CVE-2026-46256 severity moderate: SUSE including 20 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 184 product×package rows across 36 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS, … (36 product lines)): Known Not Affected 184. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-46256/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-46256 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1422 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1024, ignored 169, not-affected 121, released 84, needed 21, needs-triage 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-46256

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-46256

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 6.12, < 6.18.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.19, < 6.19.4 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-46256

cvelogic Threat Intelligence