CVE-2026-98991
namespace: queue a mount only once for mount notifications
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack conditions and impact
Derived from the CNA (via NVD) CVSS 3.1 vector| Metric | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Attack vector AV | L | Local |
| Attack complexity AC | L | Low (easy) |
| Privileges required PR | L | Regular user |
| User interaction UI | N | None |
| Scope S | U | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality C | H | High |
| Integrity I | H | High |
| Availability A | H | High |
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: namespace: queue a mount only once for mount notifications mnt_notify_add() puts a mount on notify_list. It doesn't check whether the mount is on the list already. That's fine as long as every mount is queued at most once per namespace_sem hold. It isn't. propagate_umount() moves a surviving overmount off a stack of mounts that are going away and queues it as moved. shrink_submounts() and mark_mounts_for_expiry() call umount_tree() for several mounts under a single namespace_sem hold. So the second umount_tree() can take down exactly the mount the first one reparented, reparent it once more and so end up queueing it a second time. The second list_add_tail() cuts the mounts queued in between out of the list while the head still points at the last of them. notify_mnt_list() then only visits that one mount and the others are freed after the grace period with notify_list still pointing at them. Every later mount operation on the host walks freed memory: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __list_add_valid_or_report Read of size 8 at addr ffff8881003d57e0 by task notify_dq/162 __list_add_valid_or_report+0x15c/0x1a0 mnt_add_to_ns+0x322/0x890 attach_recursive_mnt.isra.0+0xf2a/0x1a00 path_mount+0x139c/0x1d40 This needs a mount with MNT_SHRINKABLE to bind from. That's what finish_automount() creates (submounts of NFS, AFS and CIFS and the tracefs mount below debugfs). Bind mounts inherit the flag. A mount namespace with a FAN_MARK_MNTNS mark does the rest and root in a user namespace can have both. Initialize to_notify in alloc_vfsmnt() and leave a mount alone that is queued already. mnt_notify() looks at the state the mount has when the list is drained so a single entry per mount is enough. The move event for a mount that is unmounted under the same hold is lost. That's fine. The detach is what matters.
CVSS assessments
| Provider | Version | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVD / 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 (Secondary) | 3.1 | 7.8 HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| CNA / Linux | 3.1 | 7.8 HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
Affected products and packages
CNA (CVE.org)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | affected: bf630c40164162ba1d3933c2f5e3397d083e0948 … < acbe9e4418e2ef7bef1a12e62e0e7d6145a15190 affected: bf630c40164162ba1d3933c2f5e3397d083e0948 … < 702ff3fe499876e09c45558a05366d21a5bc41ab affected: bf630c40164162ba1d3933c2f5e3397d083e0948 … < bd2feb7796b6585938a4241e7b7c4148a6f7b762 default: unaffected |
| Linux | Linux | affected: 6.15 unaffected: 0 … < 6.15 unaffected: 6.18.57 … <= 6.18.* unaffected: 7.2.11 … <= 7.2.* unaffected: 7.3 … <= * default: affected |
Open-source packages (GitHub Advisory / OSV)
namespace: queue a mount only once for mount notifications
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| >= bf630c40164162ba1d3933c2f5e3397d083e0948, < acbe9e4418e2ef7bef1a12e62e0e7d6145a15190; < 702ff3fe499876e09c45558a05366d21a5bc41ab; < bd2feb7796b6585938a4241e7b7c4148a6f7b762 | acbe9e4418e2ef7bef1a12e62e0e7d6145a15190, 702ff3fe499876e09c45558a05366d21a5bc41ab, bd2feb7796b6585938a4241e7b7c4148a6f7b762 | ||
| Linux | Kernel | >= 6.15.0, < 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/702ff3fe499876e09c45558a05366d21a5bc41ab NVD, CNA, OSV
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/acbe9e4418e2ef7bef1a12e62e0e7d6145a15190 NVD, CNA, OSV
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bd2feb7796b6585938a4241e7b7c4148a6f7b762 NVD, CNA, OSV
- https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/98xxx/CVE-2026-98991.json OSV
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98991 OSV