CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-98451

HighCVSS 8.8
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.35%

29th percentile - higher than 29% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel SMB client, an O_CREAT open can find an existing symlink or another non-regular inode. cifs_atomic_open() calls finish_open() on it and attaches a cifsFileInfo, but symlink inodes have no CIFS release operation, so the dentry reference held by cifsFileInfo is leaked, and FMODE_OPENED prevents the VFS from following the symlink.

Risk Assessment

The dentry reference leak leads to gradual kernel memory exhaustion, and improper symlink handling can cause file system operation errors.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that, for non-regular inodes, closes the handle if present, removes the pending open, and calls finish_no_open() so the VFS can continue the lookup.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

See all
Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb: client: use finish_no_open() for non-regular inodes An O_CREAT open can find an existing symlink or another non-regular inode. cifs_atomic_open() calls finish_open() on it and attaches a cifsFileInfo. Symlink inodes have no CIFS release operation, so the dentry reference held by cifsFileInfo is leaked. FMODE_OPENED also prevents the VFS from following the symlink. Track whether cifs_do_create() returned an open server handle. For non-regular inodes, close the handle if present, remove the pending open, and call finish_no_open() so the VFS can continue the lookup. Do not set FMODE_CREATED unless a regular file was opened. For O_NOFOLLOW with __O_REGULAR, return -ELOOP before the VFS's -EFTYPE check. Defer closing a legacy POSIX handle on a non-regular inode until after inode lookup. This avoids closing it again if lookup fails.

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