CVE-2026-98989
namespace: check a recursive bind mount for mount namespace loops
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: namespace: check a recursive bind mount for mount namespace loops do_loopback() refuses to bind mount the file of a mount namespace that is as old as the caller's or older because a mount namespace that holds a mount of its own file, or of an ancestor's, would cause a cycle. But it only checks the dentry the bind mount starts from. With MS_REC everything below it is copied and do_loopback() passes CL_COPY_MNT_NS_FILE so mount namespace files below the source are copied. That's fine for a source in the caller's own mount namespace. Every mount namespace file in there passed the same check when it was bind-mounted. It isn't fine for a source in another mount namespace. may_copy_tree() accepts a bind mount of any nsfs or pidfs file no matter what mount namespace it lives in so that /proc/<pid>/ns/<ns> and pidfds can be bind mounted. If we create a bind-mount stack of mount namespaces file descriptors the kernel will copy them irrespective of their ancestoral relationship to the mount namespace in question: 151 146 0:7 net:[4026531833] /tmp/nrc/y rw - nsfs nsfs rw 152 151 0:7 mnt:[4026532293] /tmp/nrc/y rw - nsfs nsfs rw Mount 152 is a mount of the mount namespace file of mount namespace 4026532293 inside mount namespace 4026532293. That namespace and every mount in it are leaked... All it takes is a process in an older mount namespace that stacks the file and repeating it leaks without limit: after control: Shmem: 380 kB child: mount(/proc/self/fd/6, MS_BIND|MS_REC): ok after cycle: Shmem: 65916 kB do_move_mount() runs check_for_nsfs_mounts() over a detached tree for exactly that reason. Do the same for the copy before it is grafted.
Affected products and packages
CNA (CVE.org)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | affected: e149ed2b805fefdccf7ccdfc19eca22fdd4514ac … < a0ba48256f5dff6f75a45f8ce39fe57f21df1022 affected: e149ed2b805fefdccf7ccdfc19eca22fdd4514ac … < 37a82f400efa4d263542a5fa41755b21057f1e5d affected: e149ed2b805fefdccf7ccdfc19eca22fdd4514ac … < c640a01a78e42302879006ed7b7d5a9a943ba815 default: unaffected |
| Linux | Linux | affected: 3.19 unaffected: 0 … < 3.19 unaffected: 6.18.57 … <= 6.18.* unaffected: 7.2.11 … <= 7.2.* unaffected: 7.3 … <= * default: affected |
Open-source packages (GitHub Advisory / OSV)
namespace: check a recursive bind mount for mount namespace loops
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| >= e149ed2b805fefdccf7ccdfc19eca22fdd4514ac, < a0ba48256f5dff6f75a45f8ce39fe57f21df1022; < 37a82f400efa4d263542a5fa41755b21057f1e5d; < c640a01a78e42302879006ed7b7d5a9a943ba815 | a0ba48256f5dff6f75a45f8ce39fe57f21df1022, 37a82f400efa4d263542a5fa41755b21057f1e5d, c640a01a78e42302879006ed7b7d5a9a943ba815 | ||
| Linux | Kernel | >= 3.19.0, < 6.18.57; >= 6.19.0, < 7.2.11 | 6.18.57, 7.2.11 |
Linux distribution status
References (6)
- https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git OSV
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/37a82f400efa4d263542a5fa41755b21057f1e5d NVD, CNA, OSV
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a0ba48256f5dff6f75a45f8ce39fe57f21df1022 NVD, CNA, OSV
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c640a01a78e42302879006ed7b7d5a9a943ba815 NVD, CNA, OSV
- https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/98xxx/CVE-2026-98989.json OSV
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98989 OSV