CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-98985

Low risk· EPSS 6%
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.17%

6th percentile - higher than 6% of all known CVEs

Summary

A use-after-free flaw was fixed in the Linux kernel's path_pivot_root() function used by pivot_root(). It read the parent pointer (mnt_parent) of a mount that could already be unmounted and freed while only a file descriptor kept it alive. The check that both mounts belong to the caller's mount namespace now happens before their parents are read.

Risk Assessment

A local user able to invoke pivot_root() or chroot() can trigger a use-after-free read, potentially causing a kernel crash (denial of service) or, under favorable conditions, privilege escalation.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix for CVE-2026-98985 and deploy it on all systems, especially those exposing pivot_root() or chroot() to unprivileged users (e.g., containers).

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

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Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: namespace: check the mounts before reading their parents in pivot_root() path_pivot_root() reads the parents of new_root and of the caller's root and checks whether they are shared before it checks that either mount is in the caller's mount namespace. Only namespace_sem is held. That's fine for a mount that is in the caller's mount namespace. But new_root can be a file descriptor to a mount that has been unmounted and that only the file descriptor keeps alive. If that mount stayed attached to its parent when it was unmounted nothing pins the parent for it. The final mntput() of the parent unhooks the children under mount_lock alone and frees the parent afterwards: pivot_root() close(fd), last ref on the parent ------------ --------------------------------- ex_parent = new_mnt->mnt_parent mntput_no_expire_slowpath() __umount_mnt(new_mnt) cleanup_mnt() call_rcu() IS_MNT_SHARED(ex_parent) BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in path_pivot_root+0xf1a/0x1840 Read of size 4 at addr ffff8881047382f8 by task pivot_widen/157 path_pivot_root+0xf1a/0x1840 __x64_sys_pivot_root+0x165/0x190 The same goes for the caller's root via chroot(). Both outcomes of the check end in EINVAL so nothing but the read itself goes wrong. It's the same thing commit bb4609405752 ("statmount: read the parent of an unmounted mount under mount_lock") fixed for statmount(). Check that both mounts are in the caller's namespace before their parents are read. Every path returns EINVAL either way.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS