Bug 2559752 (CVE-2026-98991)

Summary:	CVE-2026-98991 kernel: namespace: queue a mount only once for mount notifications
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 attacker can cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by triggering a use-after-free flaw, which occurs when the system accesses memory after it has been released. During certain unmount operations, the kernel fails to verify whether a filesystem mount is already queued for notifications, allowing duplicate entries that leave references to freed memory. Subsequent mount operations traverse this invalid memory, leading to kernel memory corruption and a system crash.	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 13:30:38 UTC

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

namespace: queue a mount only once for mount notifications

mnt_notify_add() puts a mount on notify_list. It doesn't check whether
the mount is on the list already. That's fine as long as every mount is
queued at most once per namespace_sem hold. It isn't.

propagate_umount() moves a surviving overmount off a stack of mounts
that are going away and queues it as moved. shrink_submounts() and
mark_mounts_for_expiry() call umount_tree() for several mounts under a
single namespace_sem hold. So the second umount_tree() can take down
exactly the mount the first one reparented, reparent it once more and so
end up queueing it a second time.

The second list_add_tail() cuts the mounts queued in between out of the
list while the head still points at the last of them. notify_mnt_list()
then only visits that one mount and the others are freed after the grace
period with notify_list still pointing at them. Every later mount
operation on the host walks freed memory:

  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __list_add_valid_or_report
  Read of size 8 at addr ffff8881003d57e0 by task notify_dq/162
   __list_add_valid_or_report+0x15c/0x1a0
   mnt_add_to_ns+0x322/0x890
   attach_recursive_mnt.isra.0+0xf2a/0x1a00
   path_mount+0x139c/0x1d40

This needs a mount with MNT_SHRINKABLE to bind from. That's what
finish_automount() creates (submounts of NFS, AFS and CIFS and the
tracefs mount below debugfs). Bind mounts inherit the flag. A mount
namespace with a FAN_MARK_MNTNS mark does the rest and root in a user
namespace can have both.

Initialize to_notify in alloc_vfsmnt() and leave a mount alone that is
queued already. mnt_notify() looks at the state the mount has when the
list is drained so a single entry per mount is enough. The move event
for a mount that is unmounted under the same hold is lost. That's fine.
The detach is what matters.