Linux Kernel up to 7.2.5 ksmbd smb2_lock use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as very critical has been identified in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.5. The affected element is the function smb2_lock of the component ksmbd. The manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-90162. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.5. It has been classified as very critical. Affected is the function smb2_lock of the component ksmbd. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: defer publishing granted locks to prevent UAF/double-free race In smb2_lock(), mid-batch granted locks are published to connection-wide (conn->lock_list) and file-wide (fp->lock_list) lists immediately upon vfs_lock_file() success, while also remaining tracked on the stack-local rollback_list. If a subsequent element in the same SMB2_LOCK request array fails validation or execution, the thread jumps to out: and walks rollback_list to undo previously granted locks. However, because the granted lock was already published to conn->lock_list, a concurrent UNLOCK request on the same connection can find the lock object and kfree() it before the rollback loop executes. When the granting thread subsequently walks rollback_list, it dereferences and frees the already-freed ksmbd_lock structure, resulting in a Use-After-Free and Double-Free (on both ksmbd_lock and struct file_lock). Fix this by deferring the publication of granted locks to conn->lock_list and fp->lock_list until after the entire array of lock elements has been processed without error. Mid-batch grants remain tracked exclusively on the request-local rollback_list until the whole batch succeeds, eliminating the race window.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-90162 since 09/11/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/17/2026).

Upgrading to version 7.2.6 or 7.3-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch a1d26dfb32919088e3638dca01068df3c4507433/29f74f0f2e6df3b393b7b66e810136d0c64e3c59 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

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