Bug 2536685 (CVE-2026-90171)

Summary: CVE-2026-90171 kernel: smb: smbdirect: release pending child sockets outside the handler lock
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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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the SMB Direct (smbdirect) component of the Linux kernel. This vulnerability arises from an improper handling of child sockets during the shutdown process, where memory is released prematurely while still in use. A remote attacker could potentially exploit this timing issue to trigger a use-after-free condition. This could lead to system instability, crashes, or a denial of service.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-17 19:05:30 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

smb: smbdirect: release pending child sockets outside the handler lock

smbdirect_socket_destroy() releases the listener's pending/ready child
sockets while still holding the listener's handler lock, the
&id_priv->handler_mutex taken via rdma_lock_handler(), not
sc->listen.lock, and before the listener's own rdma_destroy_id().
That ordering has one real consequence and one cosmetic one.

The real one: smbdirect_socket_release() drops the child's last
reference, which destroys the child's cm_id.  Doing that before the
listener's rdma_destroy_id() lets _cma_cancel_listens(), running from
the listener's _destroy_id(), walk an already freed child id_priv,
which KASAN catches as a slab-use-after-free during listener shutdown:

[ 4758.909130] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __mutex_lock+0x1469/0x1560
[ 4758.911450] Read of size 1 at addr ffff88821c381db4 by task ksmbd.control/1652
[ 4758.913262] Call Trace:
[ 4758.913267]  <TASK>
[ 4758.913299]  __mutex_lock+0x1469/0x1560
[ 4758.913408]  _cma_cancel_listens+0x312/0x3b0
[ 4758.913413]  _destroy_id+0x363/0xee0
[ 4758.913417]  smbdirect_socket_destroy_sync+0x17d5/0x2440
[ 4758.913443]  smbdirect_socket_release+0x124/0x230
[ 4758.913451]  ksmbd_rdma_stop_listening+0x9f/0x190
[ 4758.913457]  ksmbd_conn_transport_destroy+0x65/0x3c0
[ 4758.913463]  kill_server_store+0x1fb/0x2b0
[ 4758.913501]  kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x349/0x4d0
[ 4758.913507]  vfs_write+0x5e7/0xc70
[ 4758.913528]  ksys_write+0x12a/0x210
[ 4758.913541]  do_syscall_64+0x135/0x460
[ 4758.913555]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

The cosmetic one: releasing a child recurses into
smbdirect_socket_destroy(), which takes the child's own
rdma_lock_handler() lock nested under the listener's.  The listener's
and the child's cm_id are always different instances, so this cannot
deadlock for real; the CM core itself nests a new connection id's
handler_mutex under the listening id's in cma_ib_req_handler().  But
lockdep only sees one lock class, reports possible recursive locking,
and then disables itself, hiding real locking bugs for the rest of the
run:

[ 2424.579653] WARNING: possible recursive locking detected
[ 2424.581180] 7.1.0-next-20260623+ #89 Not tainted
[ 2424.582548] --------------------------------------------
[ 2424.584500] ksmbd.control/8854 is trying to acquire lock:
[ 2424.586817] ffff888102303c20 (&id_priv->handler_mutex){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: smbdirect_socket_destroy_sync+0xc39/0x2440
[ 2424.590590]
[ 2424.590590] but task is already holding lock:
[ 2424.591601] ffff888102046c20 (&id_priv->handler_mutex){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: smbdirect_socket_destroy_sync+0xc39/0x2440
[ 2424.594178]
[ 2424.594178] other info that might help us debug this:
[ 2424.596634]  Possible unsafe locking scenario:
[ 2424.596634]
[ 2424.598841]        CPU0
[ 2424.599765]        ----
[ 2424.600695]   lock(&id_priv->handler_mutex);
[ 2424.601836]   lock(&id_priv->handler_mutex);
[ 2424.602590]
[ 2424.602590]  *** DEADLOCK ***
[ 2424.602590]
[ 2424.604512]  May be due to missing lock nesting notation

Splice the pending/ready children onto a local list under the
listener's listen.lock, while the handler lock is held so a concurrent
CM CONNECT_REQUEST cannot add more, but defer the actual
smbdirect_socket_release() calls until after the listener's cm_id has
been destroyed and its handler lock dropped.  The children are
independent sockets whose teardown needs neither the listener's
handler lock nor its cm_id.

Found with ksmbdzzer [2], a KSMBD fuzzer that drives libFuzzer with a
kcov-dataflow [1] coverage vector: it folds each instrumented
comparison/argument's runtime operand value together with its PC (the
default arm mixes them as pc⊕val) so that a new operand value at a known
site counts as new coverage.

[1] https://lwn.net/Articles/1077606/
[2] https://github.com/yskzalloc/kcov-dataflow