Bug 2532287 (CVE-2026-89766)

Summary: CVE-2026-89766 kernel: pidfd: hold exec_update_lock around namespace ioctl
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. A local attacker could exploit a race condition in the `pidfd` subsystem, specifically within the `PIDFD_GET_*_NAMESPACE` ioctls. This vulnerability occurs because the system does not properly hold a lock (`exec_update_lock`) during credential checks. This allows an attacker to bypass security restrictions and access sensitive namespace information after a target process has changed its privileges, leading to unauthorized information disclosure.
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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 22:08:25 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

pidfd: hold exec_update_lock around namespace ioctl

The PIDFD_GET_*_NAMESPACE ioctls in pidfd_ioctl() perform a filesystem
credentials ptrace access check before handing out a namespace file
descriptor.  The accompanying comment states that the code "mirrors nsfs
behavior", but, unlike the corresponding procfs paths, it does so without
holding the target task's exec_update_lock.

proc_ns_get_link() and proc_ns_readlink() both take exec_update_lock for
reading around the ptrace check and the namespace lookup, so that the
credentials used for the access decision match those of the task when its
namespace is read.  Without it, a caller can pass the check against the
target's old credentials and then read the namespace after the target has
execve()'d a setuid binary and committed new credentials -- accessing
namespace information it should have been denied.

Hold exec_update_lock for reading around the ptrace check and the
namespace lookup so that pidfd truly mirrors nsfs behavior, as the comment
already claims.  open_namespace() itself runs outside the lock: once a
namespace reference is obtained it carries its own refcount and is opened
with the caller's own credentials, so a concurrent execve() on the target
can no longer affect the outcome.