Bug 2555016 (CVE-2026-98553)

Summary: CVE-2026-98553 kernel: autofs: fix sbi->pipe file reference leak in autofs_kill_sb()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
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 automount file system (autofs). A local user can trigger this issue by initiating an autofs mount operation that fails during initialization, causing the kernel to fail to release associated pipe file references. Repeated exploitation can permanently leak system resources, ultimately leading to a Denial of Service (DoS).
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:39:25 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

autofs: fix sbi->pipe file reference leak in autofs_kill_sb()

When autofs_fill_super() fails before clearing AUTOFS_SBI_CATATONIC (for
example, when find_get_pid() fails on an invalid pgrp mount option, or
when an fs_context is closed before mounting), deactivate_locked_super()
invokes autofs_kill_sb() -> autofs_catatonic_mode(sbi).

Because AUTOFS_SBI_CATATONIC is still set in sbi->flags,
autofs_catatonic_mode() returns early without calling fput(sbi->pipe),
permanently leaking the pipe struct file reference.

Explicitly release sbi->pipe in autofs_kill_sb() if it is still non-NULL
after autofs_catatonic_mode().