Bug 2495938 (CVE-2026-53341) - CVE-2026-53341 kernel: fhandle: fix UAF due to unlocked ->mnt_ns read in may_decode_fh()
Summary: CVE-2026-53341 kernel: fhandle: fix UAF due to unlocked ->mnt_ns read in may_...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-53341
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-07-01 14:02 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-07-01 18:16 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:
Embargoed:


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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-07-01 14:02:15 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fhandle: fix UAF due to unlocked ->mnt_ns read in may_decode_fh()

may_decode_fh() accesses mount::mnt_ns without holding any locks; that
means the mount can concurrently be unmounted, and the mnt_namespace can
concurrently be freed after an RCU grace period.

This race can happens as follows, assuming that the mount point was
created by open_tree(..., OPEN_TREE_CLONE):

thread 1            thread 2            RCU
                    __do_sys_open_by_handle_at
                      do_handle_open
                        handle_to_path
                          may_decode_fh
                            is_mounted
                              [mount::mnt_ns access]
                            [mount::mnt_ns access]
__do_sys_close
  fput_close_sync
    __fput
      dissolve_on_fput
        umount_tree
        class_namespace_excl_destructor
          namespace_unlock
            free_mnt_ns
              mnt_ns_tree_remove
                call_rcu(mnt_ns_release_rcu)
                                        mnt_ns_release_rcu
                                          mnt_ns_release
                                            kfree
                            [mnt_namespace::user_ns access] **UAF**

Fix it by taking rcu_read_lock() around the mount::mnt_ns access, like
in __prepend_path().
Additionally, document the semantics of mount::mnt_ns, and use WRITE_ONCE()
for writers that can race with lockless readers.

This bug is unreachable unless one of the following is set:

 - CONFIG_PREEMPTION
 - CONFIG_RCU_STRICT_GRACE_PERIOD

because it requires an RCU grace period to happen during a syscall without
an explicit preemption.

This doesn't seem to have interesting security impact; worst-case, it could
leak the result of an integer comparison to userspace (from the level
check in cap_capable()), cause an endless loop, or crash the kernel by
dereferencing an invalid address.

Comment 1 Mauro Matteo Cascella 2026-07-01 18:09:41 UTC
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026070144-CVE-2026-53341-64ff@gregkh/T


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