Linux Kernel up to 7.2.6/7.3-rc1 smb/client smb3_insert_range race condition

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.6/7.3-rc1. It has been classified as critical. Impacted is the function smb3_insert_range of the component smb/client. Performing a manipulation results in race condition. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-98125. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.6/7.3-rc1. This affects the function smb3_insert_range of the component smb/client. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a race condition vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-362. The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence that is operating concurrently. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb/client: fix stale page cache in insert/collapse range smb3_insert_range() and smb3_collapse_range() use truncate_pagecache_range() to invalidate the affected page cache. However, if off or old_eof is not page-aligned, the boundary pages are only partially zeroed and remain uptodate. As a result, the client may return stale data after a successful insert/collapse range operation. For example, with 4K pages: page 0 page 1 page 2 0------4K 4K------8K 8K------12K ^ ^ off=2K old_eof=10K Page 1 is removed from the page cache, while the boundary pages are only partially zeroed. After COPYCHUNK moves the data on the server, these cached pages may still return stale data. This can be reproduced on a CIFS mount: bash -c ' FILE=/mnt/scratch/repro # Use a 6 KiB file so EOF is not page-aligned. dd if=/dev/urandom of=/tmp/src bs=1K count=6 status=none # Expected: a 4 KiB hole followed by the original data. rm -f /tmp/expected truncate -s 4K /tmp/expected cat /tmp/src >> /tmp/expected cp /tmp/src "$FILE" # Prime the page cache before moving data on the server. cat "$FILE" > /dev/null fallocate --insert-range -o 0 -l 4K "$FILE" if cmp -s /tmp/expected "$FILE"; then echo "readback: OK" else echo "readback: STALE DATA" fi ' Fix this by writing back dirty data and discarding the page cache from the start of the page containing off to EOF before moving data on the server.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-98125 since 09/25/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/25/2026).

Upgrading to version 7.2.7 or 7.3-rc2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 76222e76d08fbae4092ee9da84ded2b4c24ee598/01261a6fa48b62f5ead8e88aaca1e27cb9ab9032 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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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
• 7.2.6
• 7.3-rc1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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