Bug 2454874 (CVE-2026-31403)

Summary: CVE-2026-31403 kernel: NFSD: Hold net reference for the lifetime of /proc/fs/nfs/exports fd
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Network File System Daemon (NFSD) component. A local user can exploit this vulnerability by opening the `/proc/fs/nfs/exports` file and then causing the associated network namespace to be destroyed. Subsequent attempts to read from the still-open file descriptor will lead to dereferencing freed memory, which can result in a system crash or a Denial of Service (DoS).
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-04-03 16:05:35 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

NFSD: Hold net reference for the lifetime of /proc/fs/nfs/exports fd

The /proc/fs/nfs/exports proc entry is created at module init
and persists for the module's lifetime. exports_proc_open()
captures the caller's current network namespace and stores
its svc_export_cache in seq->private, but takes no reference
on the namespace. If the namespace is subsequently torn down
(e.g. container destruction after the opener does setns() to a
different namespace), nfsd_net_exit() calls nfsd_export_shutdown()
which frees the cache. Subsequent reads on the still-open fd
dereference the freed cache_detail, walking a freed hash table.

Hold a reference on the struct net for the lifetime of the open
file descriptor. This prevents nfsd_net_exit() from running --
and thus prevents nfsd_export_shutdown() from freeing the cache
-- while any exports fd is open. cache_detail already stores
its net pointer (cd->net, set by cache_create_net()), so
exports_release() can retrieve it without additional per-file
storage.