CVE-2026-74359

configfs_lookup(): don't leave ->s_dentry dangling on failure

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: August 15, 2026 at 05:58 AM UTC
Updated: October 16, 2026 at 07:17 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.1%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: configfs_lookup(): don't leave ->s_dentry dangling on failure Normally ->s_dentry is cleared when dentry it's pointing to becomes negative (on eviction, realistically). However, that only happens if dentry gets to be positive in the first place; in case of inode allocation failure dentry never becomes positive, so ->d_iput() is not called at all. We do part of what normally would've been done by configfs_d_iput() (dropping the reference to configfs_dirent) manually, but we do not clear ->s_dentry there. Sloppy as it is, it does not matter in case of configfs_create_{dir,link}() - there configfs_dirent does not survive dropping the sole reference to it. However, for configfs_lookup() it *does* survive, with a dangling pointer to soon to be freed dentry sitting it its ->s_dentry. Subsequent getdents(2) in that directory will end up dereferencing that pointer in order to pick the inode number. Use after free... This is the minimal fix; the right approach is to set the linkage between dentry and configfs_dirent only after we know that we have an inode, but that takes more surgery and the bug had been there since 2006, so...

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

2.6.163d0f89bb169482d26d5aa4e82e763077e7e9bc4d
Vendor states this is fixed in 10da12d352b7b2bb330a8609fdda9a58bf0e9856 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 3e83b2203aa59bd279e4f677ec793d49dc9d019e (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 57088b06109f3222963c639d8d743f42c2899b13 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 9c747dcee164ead300de90550ad9e4122f0d1bbb (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in b6e9c82522ddaa3ac0706b295ff4a71975d4f883 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in c3b073a209a9baa691b744318ac929fecdd8847c (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in eee07d769da5ac4e4f7bd0bc17828646a318d499 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 2.6.16 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.212 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.178 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.97 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.18.40 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.145 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.1.5 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.2 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusRECEIVED

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