---
id: CVE-2026-97610
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  netfs: Fix uninitialized return value in netfs_unbuffered_write()

  If preparation of the first subrequest fails,
  netfs_unbuffered_write() exits its loop before ret is i…
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  netfs: Fix uninitialized return value in netfs_unbuffered_write()

  If preparation of the first subrequest fails,
  netfs_unbuffered_write() exits its loop before ret is i…
severity: medium
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 72d08d2839649d1c5efbe375751f4473fa4486af <
    3d038eebdbd400c3bc4b66bd8aa0dff0c2bcce26
  - >-
    Linux >= a0b4c7a49137ed21279f354eb59f49ddae8dffc2 <
    2e38d500471d097cda87d7d374bbc1b13493075d
  - >-
    Linux >= a0b4c7a49137ed21279f354eb59f49ddae8dffc2 <
    f18e8774f4d3137fa0a5fb8ffa83d59a719666d8
  - Linux 0c29f6d63122a0168d67cb8ecde5b4cf7fe4acb0
  - Linux >= 6.18.17 < 6.18.53
  - Linux >= 6.19.7 < 6.20
  - Linux 7.0
published: '2026-09-25'
updated: '2026-09-25'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-25T11:17:15.100'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97610'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2e38d500471d097cda87d7d374bbc1b13493075d'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3d038eebdbd400c3bc4b66bd8aa0dff0c2bcce26'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f18e8774f4d3137fa0a5fb8ffa83d59a719666d8'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-97610.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-97610'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2541016'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-97610'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97610'
  - url: >-
      https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-97610.mbox
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
ingestedAt: '2026-09-25T11:06:38.900Z'
epss: 0.00198
epssPercentile: 0.09495
cvss: 5.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cvssSource: vendor
cwe:
  - CWE-908
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

netfs: Fix uninitialized return value in netfs_unbuffered_write()

If preparation of the first subrequest fails,
netfs_unbuffered_write() exits its loop before ret is initialized. The
empty-iterator check can do the same.

For synchronous writes, netfs_unbuffered_write_iter_locked() may then
return an unrelated error instead of wreq->error. This is reachable
through CIFS if cifs_prepare_write() fails to reopen the file or obtain
credits.

Initialize ret to 0 so the caller returns wreq->error if no data was
written, or the number of bytes already written otherwise.

Found with Clang's -Wconditional-uninitialized.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Moderate · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · updated 2026-10-17 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-97610.json)