Bug 2513155 (CVE-2026-68179)

Summary: CVE-2026-68179 kernel: misc: nsm: only unlock nsm_dev on post-lock error paths
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerability-draftAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
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Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Network Shared Memory (NSM) module. A local attacker can exploit an issue in the `nsm_dev_ioctl()` function where an incorrect mutex unlock operation is performed. This occurs when an initial data copy fails, leading to an attempt to unlock a mutex that was never acquired. Successful exploitation can result in a kernel panic, causing a denial of service (DoS).
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-10 12:22:16 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

misc: nsm: only unlock nsm_dev on post-lock error paths

nsm_dev_ioctl() jumps to the common out label even when the initial
copy_from_user() fails before nsm->lock has been taken.  The error path
then blindly unlocks a mutex that was never acquired.

This issue was found by our static analysis tool and then manually
reviewed against the current tree.

The grounded PoC kept the miscdevice ioctl entry and the pre-lock
copy_from_user(&raw, argp, _IOC_SIZE(cmd)) failure path by issuing
NSM_IOCTL_RAW with an invalid user pointer.  That failure reaches the
shared out label before mutex_lock(&nsm->lock).  Lockdep reported:

  WARNING: bad unlock balance detected!
  exploit/193 is trying to release lock (&global_nsm.lock) at:
  nsm_dev_ioctl+0x5f/0xcf [vuln_msv]
  but there are no more locks to release!
  no locks held by exploit/193.

Return immediately on the pre-lock copy_from_user() failure and keep the
common unlock label for the post-lock paths only.
Comment 1 gkamathe 2026-08-11 13:18:34 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026081007-CVE-2026-68179-eb07@gregkh/T