CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-90169

Unknown
Published: Translated: NVD NIST

Summary

In the Linux kernel's ksmbd module, preauthentication sessions (preauth_session) were not freed on connection teardown. If a client disconnected before sending the authenticate request, the object allocated during NTLM negotiate was not freed by either the authenticate or error cleanup paths, causing a memory leak.

Risk Assessment

Leaking preauthentication sessions on each aborted connection can exhaust kernel memory and destabilize the SMB server. An attacker could deliberately trigger disconnects to accelerate resource exhaustion.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that frees preauthentication sessions on connection teardown. Consider limiting concurrent ksmbd connections as a temporary mitigation.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel (ksmbd)

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Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: free preauth sessions on connection teardown SMB3.1.1 multichannel binding preserves the preauthentication hash in a preauth_session between the NTLM negotiate and authenticate requests. The binding NTLM negotiate allocates this object and returns STATUS_MORE_PROCESSING_REQUIRED. If the client disconnects before it sends the authenticate request, neither the authenticate nor error cleanup paths free the object. Release any remaining preauthentication sessions when tearing down the connection. Initialize the list when allocating the connection so that this cleanup is safe regardless of the negotiated dialect.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS