CVE-2024-26982: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Squashfs: check the inode number is not the invalid value of zero Syskiller has produced a

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Squashfs: check the inode number is not the invalid value of zero Syskiller has produced a

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Squashfs: check the inode number is not the invalid value of zero Syskiller has produced an out of bounds access in fill_meta_index(). That out of bounds access is ultimately caused because the inode has an inode number with the invalid value of zero, which was not checked. The reason this causes the out of bounds access is due to following sequence of events: 1. Fill_meta_index() is called to allocate (via empty_meta_index()) and fill a metadata index. It however suffers a data read error and aborts, invalidating the newly returned empty metadata index. It does this by setting the inode number of the index to zero, which means unused (zero is not a valid inode number). 2. When fill_meta_index() is subsequently called again on another read operation, locate_meta_index() returns the previous index because it matches the inode number of 0. Because this index has been returned it is expected to have been filled, and because it hasn't been, an out of bounds access is performed. This patch adds a sanity check which checks that the inode number is not zero when the inode is created and re

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.28%, higher than 20% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

Weekly security brief

The flaws that hit local websites, every Friday.

One short email: what got exploited this week, which WordPress plugins broke, and what to check. Unsubscribe in one click.