CVE-2026-89708nfsd: RCU-protect cl_cb_session to fix use-after-free on session teardown

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: RCU-protect cl_cb_session to fix use-after-free on session teardown After a DESTROY_SESSION the per-session teardown path can free a session while rpciod still holds an inflight callback rpc_task that dereferences clp->cl_cb_session. nfsd4_probe_callback_sync() flushes cl_callback_wq, but once nfsd4_run_cb_work() has called rpc_call_async() the rpc_task lives on rpciod; flushing the workqueue does not wait for it. rpc_shutdown_client() does drain rpciod tasks, but uses a 1-second wait_event_timeout — tasks stuck in rpc_delay() (e.g. 2-second NFS4ERR_DELAY retries) can outlive the drain. destroy path rpciod ------------ ------ unhash_session(ses) nfsd4_probe_callback_sync(clp) flush_workqueue(cl_callback_wq) /* returns; rpc_task still live */ nfsd4_put_session_locked(ses) free_session(ses) -> kfree(ses) nfsd4_cb_sequence_done() reads cb_clp->cl_cb_session /* freed slab */ A second window exists in nfsd4_process_cb_update(). When __nfsd4_find_backchannel() returns NULL because unhash_session() has already removed the destroyed session from cl_sessions, setup_callback_client() takes the v4.1 early return so clp->cl_cb_session = ses never fires and the field retains a pointer to the about-to-be-freed session. Fix both by converting cl_cb_session to an RCU-protected pointer: - Move the cl_cb_session = ses assignment in setup_callback_client() to after rpc_create() succeeds, so it is only published when a working backchannel exists. Clear cl_cb_session on the error return in nfsd4_process_cb_update(). Both stores use rcu_assign_pointer(). - Annotate cl_cb_session with __rcu. All rpciod-side readers use rcu_read_lock()/rcu_dereference() and check for NULL, bailing to the appropriate error or requeue path: encode_cb_sequence4args(), decode_cb_sequence4resok(), nfsd41_cb_get_slot(), nfsd41_cb_release_slot(), nfsd4_cb_prepare(), and nfsd4_cb_sequence_done(). - Switch __free_session() from kfree() to kfree_rcu() so the session slab is not reclaimed until after an RCU grace period, guaranteeing that rpciod readers inside rcu_read_lock() never dereference freed memory. - Pass the session pointer to the nfsd_cb_seq_status and nfsd_cb_free_slot tracepoints instead of having them re-read cl_cb_session. - nfsd4_cb_prepare() calls rpc_exit() when the session is NULL, routing through the done/release path to requeue the callback.

Timeline

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

0.44% · top 61% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.8.

Affected products

• Linux · Linux

  • affected dcbeaa68dbbdacbbb330a86c7fc95a28473fc209 – < 2775ec1d617e665eab71ce0f13ab1f7959713a2b
  • affected dcbeaa68dbbdacbbb330a86c7fc95a28473fc209 – < f164eb52b6f3cbf40f07fe379f9f421f88e02f76
  • affected dcbeaa68dbbdacbbb330a86c7fc95a28473fc209 – < 13bdd486c3aad4fc19e6d8b9c3556a4b4c190b25
  • affected dcbeaa68dbbdacbbb330a86c7fc95a28473fc209 – < 01c5d5f58a5db9b0ee5afba2e49d3157788687b2

• Linux · Linux

  • affected 2.6.38
  • unaffected < 2.6.38
  • unaffected 6.12.111 – ≤ 6.12.*
  • unaffected 6.18.50 – ≤ 6.18.*
  • unaffected 7.2.4 – ≤ 7.2.*
  • unaffected 7.3 – ≤ *

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• EUVD EUVD-2026-76620 (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2026-89708](https://cveledger.app/badge/CVE-2026-89708.svg)](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-89708)

Record last updated 19 Oct 2026, 08:51 UTC.