Bug 2541159 (CVE-2026-97556)

Summary:	CVE-2026-97556 kernel: smb: client: avoid leaking refcount when cifs_sb_tlink() fails
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	low	Docs Contact:
Priority:	low
Version:	unspecified	CC:	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
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	---
Doc Text:	A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's SMB client. This vulnerability can lead to a denial of service (DoS) on systems using multi-user CIFS mount configurations. When processing an opportunistic lock (oplock) break, an error during tree link lookup prevents the client from releasing an acquired file reference count. A local user can trigger this condition, leaving filesystem resources marked as busy and causing the kernel to crash when the filesystem is unmounted.	Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:		Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-25 10:53:21 UTC

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

smb: client: avoid leaking refcount when cifs_sb_tlink() fails

cifs_oplock_break() takes over the reference that
cifs_queue_oplock_break() acquired when it queued the work, and drops it
with _cifsFileInfo_put() once the break has been processed.

Only in setups with "-o multiuser", cifs_sb_tlink() may fail, at which
point cifs_oplock_break() returns without putting the file reference,
mirroring the reference leak we already fixed in the companion patch to
cifs_queue_oplock_break().

This would trigger a crash due to busy inodes on the next unmount:

  BUG: Dentry ... still in use (1) [unmount of cifs cifs]
  VFS: Busy inodes after unmount of cifs (cifs)

Drop the reference on that path as well. Doing so before the out label
mirrors the normal path, which also puts the reference before
cifs_done_oplock_break().

Found by Sashiko code review. The failure path was not exercised at
runtime.

Comment 1 gkamathe 2026-09-29 02:22:45 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-97556.mbox