Bug 2521469 (CVE-2026-74618)

Summary: CVE-2026-74618 kernel: binfmt_misc: don't warn when the mount is completed from another user namespace
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's `binfmt_misc` component. An unprivileged local user can exploit this vulnerability by manipulating user and mount namespaces to repeatedly trigger a warning condition during the mounting of `binfmt_misc`. This repeated triggering can lead to kernel log flooding, kernel tainting, and potentially a system crash (Denial of Service) if the kernel is configured to panic on warnings.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-22 15:47:05 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

binfmt_misc: don't warn when the mount is completed from another user namespace

fsopen() records the caller's user namespace in fc->user_ns and hands
back an ordinary file descriptor. Nothing ties the task that calls
fsconfig(FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE) to the task that created the context. The
fd is inherited across fork() and exec() and it can be passed over a
unix socket.

Completing a context from another user namespace is allowed on purpose.
vfs_cmd_create() authorizes the create with mount_capable(), which for
FS_USERNS_MOUNT checks ns_capable(fc->user_ns, CAP_SYS_ADMIN), and that
succeeds for a task holding CAP_SYS_ADMIN in an ancestor of fc->user_ns.
So an unprivileged task can reach the WARN_ON() in bm_fill_super():
create a user and a mount namespace in a child, call
fsopen("binfmt_misc") there, send the fscontext fd to the parent and let
the parent issue FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE. Both namespaces come from a plain
unshare(1) and no capability is needed anywhere:

  WARNING: fs/binfmt_misc.c:938 at bm_fill_super+0xa2/0xc0 [binfmt_misc]
  CPU: 15 UID: 1000 PID: 3243382 Comm: fswarn
  Call Trace:
   get_tree_keyed+0x7d/0xb0
   bm_get_tree+0x34/0x90 [binfmt_misc]
   vfs_get_tree+0x2a/0x100
   vfs_cmd_create+0x60/0xf0
   __do_sys_fsconfig+0x4b2/0x500

The child needs the mount namespace because fsopen() itself gates on
may_mount(), which asks for CAP_SYS_ADMIN in the user namespace owning
the caller's mount namespace. fsconfig() doesn't repeat that check.

It is a WARN_ON() and not a WARN_ON_ONCE(), so the condition can be
raised in a loop to taint the kernel and flood the log, and it panics a
kernel booted with panic_on_warn.

Keep refusing the mount and stop warning about it. Nothing in
bm_fill_super() depends on the two namespaces matching, it derives
everything from sb->s_user_ns.