CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-98990

Low risk· EPSS 7%
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.18%

7th percentile - higher than 7% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, shrink_submounts() and mark_mounts_for_expiry() first collect mounts to unmount and then unmount them. Unmounting the first mount changes the propagation tree, so the second mount can be unmounted even though it is busy, leaving it marked MNT_SYNC_UMOUNT while still in use. This affects mounts with MNT_SHRINKABLE, such as automounted submounts of NFS, AFS, CIFS, or tracefs under debugfs.

Risk Assessment

A busy filesystem can be forcibly unmounted, potentially causing data unavailability or system instability. Exploitation requires local access and specific mount configurations.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix. Avoid unnecessary use of automounted submounts (NFS, AFS, CIFS, tracefs) in high-risk environments.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

See all
Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: namespace: check a submount for references right before unmounting it shrink_submounts() and mark_mounts_for_expiry() first collect all the mounts they are allowed to unmount and then unmount them. Whether a mount is busy is decided by propagate_mount_busy() on the tree. But unmounting the first mount changes the tree that the second one propagates into. propagate_umount() moves a surviving overmount off a copy it unmounts and mounts it where the copy was mounted. If that's where the propagated copy of the second victim is looked up the overmount becomes a candidate of the second umount_tree(). It's childless and so trim_one() commits it without looking at its reference count. So a synchronous umount pulls out a busy mount that is in use somewhere else and marks it MNT_SYNC_UMOUNT while it has users: umount2(/tmp/plshrink/p1, 0) = 0 errno 0 cwd is (unreachable) The same two umounts requested one after the other fail with EBUSY. This needs a mount with MNT_SHRINKABLE, i.e., automounted submounts of NFS, AFS and CIFS or the tracefs mount below debugfs. Bind mounts inherit the flag. Check each mount right before it is unmounted under the same hold of namespace_sem and mount_lock as the umount itself. Make sure that the algorithm stays linear.

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