VulnerabilityPublished 19 Jul 2026

CVE-2026-64108: Linux kernel · cifs: Fix busy dentry used after unmounting

Source GCVE Database

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.8High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 2% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 19 Jul 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-3mrw-xf65-fqjh

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix is available and has been applied in the Linux kernel by flushing the deferredclose_wq workqueue before finalizing the unmount process. Users should update to a Linux kernel version that includes commit 340cea84f691c or later which contains this fix. No additional mitigation is required if the system is updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cifs: Fix busy dentry used after unmounting Since commit 340cea84f691c ("cifs: open files should not hold ref on superblock"), cifs file only holds the dentry ref_cnt, the cifs file close work(cfile->deferred) could be executed after unmounting, which will trigger a warning in generic_shutdown_super: BUG: Dentry 00000000a14a6845{i=c,n=file} still in use (1) [unmount of cifs cifs] The detailed processs is: process A process B kworker fd = open(PATH) vfs_open file->__f_path = *path // dentry->d_lockref.count = 1 cifs_open cifs_new_fileinfo cfile->dentry = dget(dentry) // dentry->d_lockref.count = 2 close(fd) __fput cifs_close queue_delayed_work(deferredclose_wq, cfile->deferred) dput(dentry) // dentry->d_lockref.count = 1 smb2_deferred_work_close _cifsFileInfo_put list_del(&cifs_file->flist) umount cleanup_mnt deactivate_super cifs_kill_sb cifs_close_all_deferred_files_sb cifs_close_all_deferred_files // cannot find cfile, skip _cifsFileInfo_put kill_anon_super generic_shutdown_super shrink_dcache_for_umount umount_check WARN ! // dentry->d_lockref.count = 1 cifsFileInfo_put_final dput(cifs_file->dentry) // dentry->d_lockref.count = 0 Fix it by flushing 'deferredclose_wq' before calling kill_anon_super. Fetch a reproducer in https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=221548.

Impact

This vulnerability can cause kernel warnings and potential instability during unmount operations of CIFS filesystems due to use-after-unmount of dentry references. While no known exploits are reported, the issue could lead to system instability or crashes related to filesystem unmounting.

Summary

The Linux kernel CIFS filesystem had a vulnerability where the deferred close work (cfile->deferred) could run after the filesystem was unmounted, causing a busy dentry to be used after unmounting. This leads to a warning in generic_shutdown_super due to a dentry still being in use. The root cause is that the CIFS file close work holds a dentry reference that can be accessed after the superblock is killed during unmount. The fix involves flushing the deferredclose_wq workqueue before calling kill_anon_super to ensure no deferred close work runs post-unmount.

References

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