Linux Kernel up to 6.6.159/6.12.112/6.18.56/7.2.10 Mount Namespace may_copy_tree information disclosure

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.
2.2	$0-$5k	0.39

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.159/6.12.112/6.18.56/7.2.10. It has been declared as problematic. The affected element is the function may_copy_tree of the component Mount Namespace. Such manipulation leads to information disclosure. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2026-98992. The attack needs to be performed locally. There is not any exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.159/6.12.112/6.18.56/7.2.10. It has been rated as problematic. Affected by this issue is the function may_copy_tree of the component Mount Namespace. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a information disclosure vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-200. The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information. Impacted is confidentiality. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: namespace: don't copy an unmounted mount tree may_copy_tree() accepts a mount whose root is an nsfs or pidfs file before it checks whether that mount is mounted. This exception exists for nsfs and pidfs mounts. They are part of no mount namespace so neither check_mnt() nor is_mounted() would let them through and bind-mounting a nsfsfd or a pidfd wouldn't work. Problem is that exception also admits a bind mount of such a file when it was lazily unmounted and is only kept alive by a file descriptor: mount --bind /proc/self/ns/net /tmp/x exec 3< /tmp/x umount -l /tmp/x mount --rbind /proc/self/fd/3 /tmp/y With MS_REC or AT_RECURSIVE copy_tree() doesn't stop at the unmounted mount. It copies every mount that stayed attached to it as well. So if you have a bunch of overmounts over the nsfsfd or the pidfd the whole unmounted stack is copied. That's a bug. So refuse to walk an unmounted tree. Copying its root alone stays possible. So a bind mount of a namespace that is gone can still be recreated from a file descriptor on the old one. The file descriptor pins that mount and its root and __has_locked_children() only reads the direct children which don't leave the parent's list without namespace_sem. The internal mounts carry MNT_NS_INTERNAL instead of NULL and are still walked. Copying an unmounted tree recursively fails with EINVAL.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-98992 since 09/25/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack needs to be approached locally. The exploitation needs additional levels of successful authentication. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1592.

Upgrading to version 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.57 or 7.2.11 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 86a2d56b1960720bf1844441c0890621e9db2f25/7e037b1fd339d865737c8accd29abcf40130a5a0/b47b40c4f058418f9707454543179df240796aad/8d3527457e183cedee3003c2897314da49488311/8bacbf6be959973b28b691713a872c12eae69eec 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

• 6.6.159
• 6.12.112
• 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: 2.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 2.2

VulDB Base Score: 2.3
VulDB Temp Score: 2.2
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: Information disclosure
CWE: CWE-200 / CWE-284 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

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 6.6.160/6.12.113/6.18.57/7.2.11
Patch: 86a2d56b1960720bf1844441c0890621e9db2f25/7e037b1fd339d865737c8accd29abcf40130a5a0/b47b40c4f058418f9707454543179df240796aad/8d3527457e183cedee3003c2897314da49488311/8bacbf6be959973b28b691713a872c12eae69eec

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-2026-98992 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98992
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-425816

Entryinfo

Created: 10/23/2026 15:32
Changes: 10/23/2026 15:32 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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