VulnerabilityPublished 19 Jul 2026

CVE-2026-64142: Linux kernel · ksmbd: close durable scavenger races against m_fp_list lookups

Source GCVE Database

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.8 Critical.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 15:59 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

9.8Critical

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

EPSS: 0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 53% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
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: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
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-jcg5-p7gf-vq99

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix has been implemented in the Linux kernel to address these race conditions in ksmbd durable handle scavenging. Users should update to the fixed kernel version once available. Since this is a kernel vulnerability, applying the official kernel patch or upgrading to a kernel version containing the fix is the recommended mitigation. No alternative workarounds are indicated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: close durable scavenger races against m_fp_list lookups ksmbd_durable_scavenger() has two related races against any walker that iterates f_ci->m_fp_list, including ksmbd_lookup_fd_inode() (used by ksmbd_vfs_rename) and the share-mode checks in fs/smb/server/smb_common.c. (1) fp->node list-head reuse. Durable-preserved handles can remain linked on f_ci->m_fp_list after session teardown so share-mode checks still see them while the handle is reconnectable. The scavenger collected expired handles by adding fp->node to a local scavenger_list after removing them from the global durable idr. Because fp->node is the same list_head used by m_fp_list, list_add(&fp->node, &scavenger_list) overwrites the m_fp_list links and corrupts both lists. CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST can report this on the share-mode walk path. (2) Refcount race against m_fp_list walkers. The scavenger qualifies an expired durable handle with atomic_read(&fp->refcount) > 1 and fp->conn under global_ft.lock, removes fp from global_ft, then drops global_ft.lock before unlinking fp from m_fp_list and freeing it. During that gap fp is still linked on m_fp_list with f_state == FP_INITED. ksmbd_lookup_fd_inode() under m_lock read calls ksmbd_fp_get() (atomic_inc_not_zero on refcount that is still 1) and takes a live reference; the scavenger then unlinks and frees fp while the holder owns a reference, leading to UAF on the holder's subsequent ksmbd_fd_put() and on any field reads performed by a concurrent share-mode walker that iterates m_fp_list without taking ksmbd_fp_get() (smb_check_perm_dleases-like paths). Fix both: * Stop reusing fp->node as a scavenger-private list node. Remove one expired handle from global_ft under global_ft.lock, take an explicit transient reference, drop the lock, unlink fp->node from m_fp_list under f_ci->m_lock, then drop both the durable lifetime and transient references with atomic_sub_and_test(2, &fp->refcount). If the scavenger is the last putter the close runs there; otherwise an in-flight holder that already raced through the m_fp_list lookup owns the final close via its ksmbd_fd_put() path. The one-at-a-time disposal can rescan the durable idr when multiple handles expire in the same pass, but durable scavenging is a background expiration path and the final full scan recomputes min_timeout before the next wait. * Clear fp->persistent_id inside __ksmbd_remove_durable_fd() right after idr_remove(), so a delayed final close from a holder that snatched fp does not re-issue idr_remove() on a persistent id that idr_alloc_cyclic() in ksmbd_open_durable_fd() may have already handed out to a brand-new durable handle. * Bypass the per-conn open_files_count decrement in __put_fd_final() when fp is detached from any session table (fp->conn cleared by session_fd_check() at durable preserve -- paired with the volatile_id clear at unpublish, so checking fp->conn alone is sufficient). The walker that owns the final close runs from an unrelated work->conn whose stats.open_files_count never tracked this durable fp; without this guard the holder would underflow that unrelated counter. The two races are folded into one patch because patch (1) alone cleans up the corrupted list but leaves a deterministic UAF window for m_fp_list walkers that the transient-reference and persistent_id discipline in (2) close; bisecting onto an intermediate state would land on a UAF that pre-patch chaos merely made less reproducible. Validation: * CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST coverage for the list_head reuse path. * KASAN-enabled direct SMB2 durable-handle coverage that exercised ksmbd_durable_scavenger() and non-NULL ksmbd_lookup_fd_inode() returns while durable handles expired under concurrent rename lookups, with no KASAN, UAF, list-corruption, ODEBUG, or WARNING reports. ---truncated---

Impact

The vulnerability could lead to use-after-free conditions and list corruption within the ksmbd SMB server kernel module. This can cause kernel memory corruption, potentially leading to system instability or crashes. However, no known exploits are reported in the wild. The issue affects kernel SMB durable handle management, which could impact SMB file operations relying on durable handles.

Summary

The Linux kernel's ksmbd_durable_scavenger() function had two race conditions related to the management of durable SMB2 file handles linked in f_ci->m_fp_list. First, reusing the fp->node list-head during scavenging caused corruption of the global list. Second, a refcount race allowed a use-after-free condition when a handle was freed while still referenced by concurrent lookups or share-mode checks. The patch stops reuse of fp->node as a scavenger-private list node, introduces explicit transient references during removal, clears persistent IDs after removal to prevent reuse conflicts, and bypasses decrementing open_files_count for detached handles to avoid counter underflow. These changes eliminate deterministic UAF windows and list corruption. Validation was performed using CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST and KASAN-enabled testing to confirm the absence of UAF, list corruption, or warnings.

References

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