Bug 2559688 (CVE-2026-98995)

Summary:	CVE-2026-98995 kernel: namespace: reset the old parent's ->overmount in mnt_change_mountpoint()
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
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. A local user can cause a denial of service (DoS) or potentially escalate privileges by triggering a use-after-free condition in the mount namespace subsystem. When moving file system mount points, the kernel fails to clear a reference pointer on the former parent mount. An attacker can exploit this dangling pointer by unmounting file systems while maintaining open file descriptors, causing the kernel to access freed memory and crash the system.	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 2026-10-23 13:13:30 UTC

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

namespace: reset the old parent's ->overmount in mnt_change_mountpoint()

__umount_mnt() resets ->overmount of the parent when it unmounts the
mount that overmounts it. mnt_change_mountpoint() doesn't. It moves the
mount to its new parent and leaves the old one pointing at it.

For a mount that is moved beneath in attach_recursive_mnt() that doesn't
matter. The new mount has already reset ->overmount of the old parent by
the time the old top mount is moved onto it.

It matters for reparent() though. propagate_umount() moves a surviving
overmount onto the first ancestor that isn't going to be unmounted. The
mount it was taken from is unmounted immediately afterwards. If a file
descriptor keeps that unmounted mount alive ->overmount points at the
moved mount. That's a dangling pointer and UAF as the moved mount is
unmounted and freed.

do_lock_mount() follows ->overmount from the target path under
mount_lock. With a file descriptor on such a mount as the target of a
mount beneath topmost_overmount() walks into the freed mount and
do_lock_mount() takes references on whatever it finds there.

So reset ->overmount of the old parent in mnt_change_mountpoint() the
same way __umount_mnt() does. A mount's ->overmount is then always a
mount that is attached to it.