Linux Kernel up to 6.18.56/7.2.10 Mount Namespace attach_recursive_mnt infinite loop

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
9.5	$0-$5k	1.19

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.56/7.2.10 and classified as very critical. This vulnerability affects the function attach_recursive_mnt of the component Mount Namespace. The manipulation leads to infinite loop. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-98987. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.56/7.2.10 and classified as very critical. This issue affects the function attach_recursive_mnt of the component Mount Namespace. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a infinite loop vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-835. The product contains an iteration or loop with an exit condition that cannot be reached, i.e., an infinite loop. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: namespace: look at the topmost mount for a mount namespace file attach_recursive_mnt() preallocates a mountpoint for the root of the topmost mount of the source so that a mount that already sits at the destination can be put on top of the source or on top of one of its propagated copies. The copies are made without CL_COPY_MNT_NS_FILE so their chain of overmounts is shorter than the source's. It ends below the first bind mount of a mount namespace file. So while the loop walks up the chain of the source it remembers the mountpoint of that mount in "shorter" and the existing mount is put there for the copies. But the loop ends at the topmost mount without ever looking at it. If the topmost mount is the only mount namespace file in the chain "shorter" stays NULL and mnt_change_mountpoint() attaches the existing mount of the copy below the root of the mount namespace file. That's a dentry of nsfs. No path walk in the copy's mount namespace ever gets there. The mount is gone until its parent goes and the copy that took its place can't be unmounted synchronously because it has a child: S bind mount of a file N bind mount of a mount namespace file on top of S A shared mount, B a slave of A, Q mounted on B/file move_mount(S, A/file) cat B/file -> the content of S instead of Q umount B/file -> EBUSY Look at every mount of the chain including the topmost one.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-98987 since 09/25/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated 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 10/23/2026). MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1499 for this issue.

Upgrading to version 6.18.57 or 7.2.11 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b9c40553f6ceba50042281eef6f701e5fb719726/87ecd4c6da146363384a603bd9e90c90e7275536/8714b44adac7b10506e1db3ef1710689751f0f10 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 6.18.52
• 6.18.53
• 6.18.54
• 6.18.55
• 6.18.56
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.2.7
• 7.2.8
• 7.2.9
• 7.2.10

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Infinite loop
CWE: CWE-835 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.18.57/7.2.11
Patch: b9c40553f6ceba50042281eef6f701e5fb719726/87ecd4c6da146363384a603bd9e90c90e7275536/8714b44adac7b10506e1db3ef1710689751f0f10

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 CVE reserved
10/23/2026 +28 days Advisory disclosed
10/23/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/23/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-98987 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98987
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-425813

Entryinfo

Created: 10/23/2026 15:31
Changes: 10/23/2026 15:31 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Discussion

Do you know our Splunk app?

Download it now for free!