All vulnerabilities
CVE-2026-98986

Linux: namespace: remove the fsnotify marks of a mount namespace in process context

Linux LinuxOperating systems
CVSS
NoneNot scored
ExploitationNo known exploitationNot in CISA KEV, which does not prove it is unexploitedCISA KEV
Exploit odds (EPSS)No scoreNo FIRST EPSS score in this snapshot yet
Fixed in888363d74c3b5d32e2accf217add70f8b38e0e2bAlso 9e820a6becdd955a04adbedfd767253a47eedd9e, 1a116222acdcc1bc1a8350727ae6f28907d44594CVE List
Published23 Oct 2026Updated 23 Oct 2026CVE List

What fixes it

  • 888363d74c3b5d32e2accf217add70f8b38e0e2bLinuxCVE List
  • 9e820a6becdd955a04adbedfd767253a47eedd9eLinuxCVE List
  • 1a116222acdcc1bc1a8350727ae6f28907d44594LinuxCVE List

A fixed version on one release line is not the upgrade target for every line. Check your exact version and any vendor backports.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

namespace: remove the fsnotify marks of a mount namespace in process context

mnt_ns_release() drops the last passive reference of a mount namespace and removes its fanotify marks via fsnotify_mntns_delete(). That takes the mutex of every group with a mark on the namespace and the spinlock of the connector. Fine from process context. But mnt_ns_tree_remove() hands the reference the namespace was allocated with to call_rcu() and so the marks are removed from the RCU softirq:

BUG: sleeping function called from invalid context at kernel/locking/mutex.c:623 in_atomic(): 1, irqs_disabled(): 0, non_block: 0, pid: 0, name: swapper/3 __mutex_lock+0x113/0x24b0 fsnotify_destroy_marks+0x11b/0x3d0 mnt_ns_release_rcu+0x57/0xa0 rcu_core+0x6b6/0x1e40

and lockdep complains about the connector lock being taken from softirq context. A fanotify group with a FAN_MARK_MNTNS mark on the mount namespace of another task is all that's needed. Root in a user namespace can do that for a mount namespace it owns. The task exits and the namespace is freed with the mark still on it.

Remove the marks in free_mnt_ns() before the namespace is handed to RCU. That runs in process context once the last active reference is gone. A mark is added through a file descriptor to the namespace which holds an active reference so no mark can show up after that.

Text from CVE List

Affected versions 8

  • Linuxaffected: bf630c40164162ba1d3933c2f5e3397d083e0948 before 888363d74c3b5d32e2accf217add70f8b38e0e2bCVE List
  • Linuxaffected: bf630c40164162ba1d3933c2f5e3397d083e0948 before 9e820a6becdd955a04adbedfd767253a47eedd9eCVE List
  • Linuxaffected: bf630c40164162ba1d3933c2f5e3397d083e0948 before 1a116222acdcc1bc1a8350727ae6f28907d44594CVE List
  • Linuxaffected: 6.15CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: all versions before 6.15CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 6.18.57 through 6.18.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 7.2.11 through 7.2.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 7.3CVE List

References 3