Bug 2532085 (CVE-2026-89679)

Summary: CVE-2026-89679 kernel: nfsd: fix null dereference in nfsd4_setattr for deleg timestamp attrs
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: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, 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 nfsd component. A remote attacker can exploit this by sending a specially crafted SETATTR request that includes specific delegation timestamp attributes and a special NFSv4 state ID. This triggers a null dereference, leading to a kernel crash and a Denial of Service (DoS). No authentication is required for a successful attack.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-11 20:27:26 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

nfsd: fix null dereference in nfsd4_setattr for deleg timestamp attrs

When a SETATTR request includes FATTR4_WORD2_TIME_DELEG_ACCESS or
FATTR4_WORD2_TIME_DELEG_MODIFY in the attribute bitmap, nfsd4_setattr()
sets deleg_attrs=true and calls nfs4_preprocess_stateid_op() to validate
the stateid.

If the client supplies the NFSv4 "one stateid" (all-0xFF bytes),
check_special_stateids() returns nfs_ok without populating the output
nfs4_stid pointer, because the special-stateid path in
nfs4_preprocess_stateid_op() jumps to done: with s==NULL, and the
"if (s)" block that would set *cstid is skipped. The local variable `st`
remains NULL.

Back in nfsd4_setattr(), the if (deleg_attrs) block then unconditionally
dereferences st->sc_type (at offset 4 from NULL), causing a kernel oops.

This is remotely triggerable by any NFSv4 client: send COMPOUND [PUTROOTFH,
SETATTR(ONE_STATEID, {bmval2=FATTR4_WORD2_TIME_DELEG_ACCESS, ...})].
No authentication, delegation, or prior state is required.

Fix by adding a NULL check before the dereference. A special stateid is
not a delegation stateid, so the existing nfserr_bad_stateid return value
is already correct; we only need to guard the pointer dereference itself.