CVE-2026-90169
Low risk· EPSS 15%Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk15th percentile - higher than 15% of all known CVEs
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)
See all- CVE-2026-89788Critical
In the Linux kernel, the ksmbd module contains a use-after-free vulnerability in smb2_tree_connect(). A newly created tree connection is published in the session and then used by the handler, while a concurrent session logoff can free the object before the handler finishes.
- CVE-2026-89635Critical
In the Linux kernel, the ksmbd_reopen_durable_fd() function rebinds every detached oplock on an inode to the reconnecting session instead of only the oplock owned by the reopened file. This allows one session to adopt another session's oplock, and when the adopting session is destroyed, a use-after-free occurs. The vulnerability is reachable with the default durable-handle and oplock configuration when two sessions open the same file with distinct AppInstanceIds.
- CVE-2026-80926Critical
A use-after-free vulnerability was fixed in the Linux kernel's ksmbd oplock break notification mechanism. The smb2_oplock_break_noti() function read the opinfo->conn pointer without locking and dereferenced it after sleeping allocations, allowing a race with durable handle teardown to access a freed connection. The flaw is reachable by any authenticated client holding a durable batch oplock.
- CVE-2026-43376Critical
A vulnerability has been identified in the Linux kernel within ksmbd, related to a use-after-free error due to immediate freeing of the oplock_info structure. This issue occurs when the pointer is nullified without a grace period delay in RCU, allowing access to already freed memory.
- CVE-2026-43185Critical
The ksmbd module in the Linux kernel has a signedness bug in smb_direct_prepare_negotiation(). An unsigned __u32 value from preferred_send_size is cast to a signed int before computing min_t(int, ...), so a malicious value of 0x80000000 is treated as smaller than max_recv_size and used to set the maximum allowed receive size. By sending a second message with a large value (>1420 bytes), the attacker can achieve a heap buffer overflow.
- CVE-2026-23428Critical
A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel ksmbd module involving the share_conf object in compound requests. smb2_get_ksmbd_tcon() reuses work->tcon without validating tcon->t_state, so after an earlier SMB2_TREE_DISCONNECT frees share_conf, subsequent commands dereference the freed memory.
- CVE-2023-54203Critical
In the Linux kernel, a vulnerability in the ksmbd module leads to a slab-out-of-bounds read in the init_smb2_rsp_hdr function. The issue occurs when an SMB1 mount attempt fails and the ksmbd server incorrectly handles SMB1 negotiation as an SMB2 operation, causing an out-of-bounds memory read.
- CVE-2023-38432Critical
An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel before 6.3.10 related to the validation of command payload size in ksmbd, leading to an out-of-bounds read.
- CVE-2023-38431Critical
An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel before 6.3.8 related to the lack of validation of the NetBIOS header's length in relation to SMB header sizes in ksmbd. This leads to an out-of-bounds read.
- CVE-2023-38427Critical
An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel before 6.3.8 related to integer underflow and out-of-bounds read in the deassemble_neg_contexts function in fs/smb/server/smb2pdu.c in ksmbd.
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

