CVE-2026-89690
Received Received - Intake

Use-After-Free in Linux Kernel NFS Server

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-89690, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-09-11

Last updated on: 2026-09-11

Assigner: kernel.org

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: defer vfree of compound ops to fix rpc_status UAF The rpc_status netlink dumpit walks every in-flight svc_rqst under rcu_read_lock and, for NFSv4 requests, reads opnums out of args->ops[]. But args->ops is a separate vmalloc buffer freed synchronously by vfree() in nfsd4_release_compoundargs() at the end of every compound. The dumpit's rcu_read_lock pins the svc_rqst struct itself (freed via kfree_rcu), but nothing defers the vfree of the ops buffer across the RCU grace period. A concurrent compound completion can therefore free the buffer while the dumpit is reading it β€” a use-after-free on vmalloc memory. The trailing seqcount recheck (smp_load_acquire of rq_status_counter) cannot undo a load that already retired against freed memory. Fix by replacing vfree(args->ops) with kvfree_rcu_mightsleep(), which defers the free until after an RCU grace period. This makes the existing rcu_read_lock in the dumpit sufficient to protect the read. The tradeoff is that completed compound ops buffers (up to 200 * sizeof(struct nfsd4_op)) persist in memory slightly longer, across one grace period, before being reclaimed.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-09-11
Last Modified
2026-09-11
Generated
2026-09-12
AI Q&A
2026-09-12
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel *

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

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CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability in the Linux kernel involves a use-after-free issue in the NFS server (nfsd). When handling NFSv4 requests, the kernel frees a vmalloc buffer containing operation data immediately after processing. However, a concurrent netlink dump operation may still access this freed memory under an RCU read lock, leading to a use-after-free vulnerability.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability is specific to the Linux kernel's NFS server implementation and requires kernel-level detection. There are no direct network or system commands to detect it as it involves a race condition in kernel memory management. Monitoring for kernel crashes or unusual NFS server behavior may indicate exploitation attempts.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability could allow an attacker to cause system instability, crashes, or potentially execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. It may lead to unauthorized access or data corruption if exploited.

Mitigation Strategies

Apply the kernel patch that replaces vfree with kvfree_rcu_mightsleep for NFSv4 compound operation buffers. Update to a Linux kernel version that includes this fix. If immediate patching is not possible, consider disabling NFSv4 server functionality as a temporary workaround.

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