Premature free of ext4 superblock info in Linux kernel
Key facts
- Attack vector
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- Privileges required
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- User interaction
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- Attack complexity
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- Impact type
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- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
The ext4 filesystem in the Linux kernel frees its superblock info without waiting for an RCU grace period. A path lookup in RCU pathwalk mode that still reads this state when the last reference to a mount goes away can dereference a NULL pointer or freed memory. A local attacker can try to trigger this by racing a path lookup against the last reference to a mount. The affected Linux kernel code is from 5.19 until the fixed releases listed in the solution.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: free the sbi after a grace period ext4_get_link() follows a symlink that keeps its target in a data block in rcu pathwalk mode with ext4_getblk(EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CACHED_NOWAIT). That reads s_mount_state in the ASSERT() of ext4_getblk() and again in ext4_es_lookup_extent(), and the lookup bumps the extent status hit or miss counter, all through sb->s_fs_info. ext4_put_super() destroys those counters, clears sb->s_fs_info and frees the sbi without waiting for a grace period. A pathwalk that is still in ext4_get_link() when the last reference to the mount goes away then dereferences a NULL s_fs_info, the freed sbi or the destroyed percpu counters. With a pathwalk held up in ext4_get_link() while the last reference goes away: KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x00000000000000a8-0x00000000000000af] RIP: 0010:ext4_getblk+0xf0/0x640 Call Trace: <TASK> ext4_get_link+0x26c/0x410 pick_link+0xf96/0x1780 step_into_slowpath+0x9b8/0x1250 path_lookupat+0x484/0xb00 filename_lookup+0x1f1/0x5b0 vfs_statx+0xd7/0x3b0 vfs_fstatat+0x4d/0x90 __do_sys_newfstatat+0xa0/0x100 do_syscall_64+0x10e/0x5e0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f So far that has been hard to hit. umount(2) waits for a grace period in namespace_unlock() before it drops the mount, so only a mount whose last reference goes away elsewhere, like the close of a file or a chdir out of a lazily unmounted directory, can race a walker. Keep sb->s_fs_info and free the sbi together with the extent status counters after a grace period. Split the counters out of ext4_es_unregister_shrinker() for that. The shrinker still gets wasted in ext4_put_super(), the counters go with the sbi.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
Update the Linux kernel to 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.13 or 7.3, depending on the stable branch in use. Red Hat has no fix available yet for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5, and no fix planned for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.13, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
Timeline
- 2026-10-28 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-99174
- 2026-10-28 Alias added: GHSA-h9fx-4jcw-948x
- 2026-10-29 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-29 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/Linux@4ce0e27ea610663a9cdc04e3bca38559147428d4, Linux/[email protected], Linux/[email protected] +3 · CNA
- 2026-10-30 3 new references · CNA
- 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cf3bd5824c985b350d150bcd76698ee5e993fcba
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b4b0598fad51a978fcbda9d55eef6b5bd3cbe7d8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4ce0e27ea610663a9cdc04e3bca38559147428d4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/80d5db1686b05fad6f384be017714297d828a714
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/87d29b8b849738d52fe820d495fa0aa2d5a1ec82
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c17b44266a1f9fcb49b894d4611d1254bf1aa313
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Sources
- CVE-2026-99174 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-99174 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-h9fx-4jcw-948x · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-99174 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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