Methods, systems, and devices for a common error protection buffer for multiple cursors are described. A memory device may receive a command to write data to a memory system. The memory device may assign portions of the data to respective pages of a first cursor and generate error protection data for the assigned data. The memory device may assign the generated error protection data to an error protection buffer common to multiple cursors, for example, by performing an combination operation. The memory device may increment a counter associated with the error protection buffer. The memory device may write a summary of contents of the error protection buffer and a position of each cursor related to the error protection data based on the counter satisfying a threshold. The memory device may perform a readback operation to facilitate garbage collection without losing error protection data.