CVE-2026-53341: fhandle: fix UAF due to unlocked ->mnt_ns read in may_decode_fh()

Published Jul 1, 2026
·
Updated

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fhandle: fix UAF due to unlocked ->mntns read in maydecodefh()

maydecodefh() accesses mount::mntns without holding any locks; that means the mount can concurrently be unmounted, and the mntnamespace can concurrently be freed after an RCU grace period.

This race can happens as follows, assuming that the mount point was created by opentree(..., OPENTREECLONE):

thread 1 thread 2 RCU dosysopenbyhandleat dohandleopen handletopath maydecodefh ismounted [mount::mntns access] [mount::mntns access] dosysclose fputclosesync fput dissolveonfput umounttree classnamespaceexcldestructor namespaceunlock freemntns mntnstreeremove callrcu(mntnsreleasercu) mntnsreleasercu mntnsrelease kfree [mntnamespace::userns access] UAF

Fix it by taking rcureadlock() around the mount::mntns access, like in prependpath(). Additionally, document the semantics of mount::mntns, and use WRITEONCE() for writers that can race with lockless readers.

This bug is unreachable unless one of the following is set:

- CONFIGPREEMPTION - CONFIGRCUSTRICTGRACEPERIOD

because it requires an RCU grace period to happen during a syscall without an explicit preemption.

This doesn't seem to have interesting security impact; worst-case, it could leak the result of an integer comparison to userspace (from the level check in capcapable()), cause an endless loop, or crash the kernel by dereferencing an invalid address.

Affected Software

11 affected componentsFixes available
Linux Kernel
Linux Linux kernel>=6.11<6.12.95
Linux Linux kernel>=6.13<6.18.36
Linux Linux kernel>=6.19<7.0.13
Linux Linux kernel=7.1-rc1
Linux Linux kernel=7.1-rc2
Linux Linux kernel=7.1-rc3
Linux Linux kernel=7.1-rc4
Linux Linux kernel=7.1-rc5
Linux Linux kernel=7.1-rc6
debian/linux
6.1.176-16.1.190-16.12.107-16.12.115-27.2.12-17.2.15-1

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade debian/linux to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 6.1.176-1Fixed in 6.1.190-1Fixed in 6.12.107-1Fixed in 6.12.113-1Fixed in 7.2.12-1Fixed in 7.2.14-1
  2. Compensating control

    Fix may_decode_fh() by taking rcu_read_lock() around the mount::mnt_ns access, document the semantics of mount::mnt_ns, and use WRITE_ONCE() for writers that can race with lockless readers.

Event History

Jul 1, 2026
CVE Published
via MITRE·01:32 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·01:32 PM
DescriptionSeverity
Data Sourced
via NVD·02:16 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software

Parent advisories

This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.

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