Bug 2541099 (CVE-2026-97558)

Summary: CVE-2026-97558 kernel: smb: client: fix cifsFileInfo reference leak in deferred close
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 Linux kernel's SMB (Server Message Block) client subsystem, which can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS). Due to a timing issue during deferred file close operations, the kernel fails to properly release an internal file reference count when background cleanup work is already pending. A local user performing file operations on an SMB share can trigger this race condition, causing file structures and server handles to remain pinned in memory. Over time, this resource leak can exhaust kernel memory and disrupt system availability.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-25 10:48:31 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

smb: client: fix cifsFileInfo reference leak in deferred close

When cifs_close() defers a close, it hands the cifsFileInfo reference
of the closing struct file to the queued work. Each execution of
smb2_deferred_work_close() drops one such reference.

deferred_close_scheduled can be false while the work is pending: the
workqueue clears PENDING when the callback starts to run, before the
callback clears the flag under deferred_lock. A close in that
interval requeues the running work, and the callback then clears the
flag, leaving the requeued work pending with the flag down. A later
cifs_open() can reuse the handle and its cifs_close() reaches the
same branch: queue_delayed_work() fails because the work is still
pending, but cifs_close() returns without dropping the closing file's
reference. The cifsFileInfo count stays pinned and its tlink, dentry
and server handle are leaked.

Check the return value and hand off the reference only when work was
actually queued. Otherwise, use the shared _cifsFileInfo_put(), like
the mod_delayed_work() branch above: the pending execution already
owns its reference.

This issue was found by an in-house static analysis tool.