Bug 2532132 (CVE-2026-89540) - CVE-2026-89540 kernel: Linux kernel: sunrpc denial of service and resource leak due to uninitialized mutex
Summary: CVE-2026-89540 kernel: Linux kernel: sunrpc denial of service and resource le...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-89540
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-09-11 20:49 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-09-11 21:12 UTC (History)
15 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-11 20:49:09 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sunrpc: init gssp_lock before publishing proc entry

create_use_gss_proxy_proc_entry() publishes /proc/net/rpc/use-gss-proxy
via proc_create_data() before init_gssp_clnt() runs mutex_init() on
sn->gssp_lock.  Once the dentry is linked under proc_subdir_lock it is
immediately reachable from userspace, so a write that lands in the
window drives set_gssp_clnt() into mutex_lock() on a zero-initialized
struct mutex.

    create_use_gss_proxy_proc_entry(net)
      proc_create_data("use-gss-proxy", ...)   /* dentry live */
      init_gssp_clnt(sn)
        mutex_init(&sn->gssp_lock)             /* too late */

    write_gssp()
      set_gssp_clnt(net)
        mutex_lock(&sn->gssp_lock)             /* uninitialized */
        gssp_rpc_create(...)
        sn->gssp_clnt = clnt
        mutex_unlock(&sn->gssp_lock)

The window spans only the two statements between proc_create_data()
returning and init_gssp_clnt(), so a writer reaches it only if the
registering thread is preempted there while another task is already
opening the freshly published file.  register_pernet_subsys() runs in
preemptible context under pernet_ops_rwsem, so that preemption is
possible, and the window widens on auth_rpcgss module load, when the
proc entry is created for every live net namespace whose tasks are
already running.  A writer that wins the race locks a zero-filled
struct mutex.  On CONFIG_DEBUG_MUTEXES the missing magic value trips a
"lock used without init" splat; on a production kernel the fast path
acquires the lock via CMPXCHG(owner, 0, current).  In the latter case
a second writer that arrives before init_gssp_clnt() re-zeroes owner
can enter set_gssp_clnt() concurrently, shut down the first writer's
clnt while it is still in use, and leak the loser's clnt.

Fix by initializing sn->gssp_lock in sunrpc_init_net() so its lifetime
matches the sunrpc_net it lives in.  sn->gssp_clnt is already NULL from
the kzalloc that backs net_generic storage, so the lazy helper is no
longer needed; drop init_gssp_clnt(), its prototype, and the call from
create_use_gss_proxy_proc_entry().  sunrpc.ko is a build-time
dependency of auth_rpcgss.ko, so sunrpc_init_net() has always run on
every netns before any auth_gss pernet init can publish the proc
entry.


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