CVE-2026-97556 json
smb: client: avoid leaking refcount when cifs_sb_tlink() fails
published 2026-09-25 44 d ago modified 2026-10-30 9 d ago also EUVD-2026-86864
- cvss
- —
- not scored
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 11%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
smb: client: avoid leaking refcount when cifs_sb_tlink() fails
cifs_oplock_break() takes over the reference that cifs_queue_oplock_break() acquired when it queued the work, and drops it with _cifsFileInfo_put() once the break has been processed.
Only in setups with "-o multiuser", cifs_sb_tlink() may fail, at which point cifs_oplock_break() returns without putting the file reference, mirroring the reference leak we already fixed in the companion patch to cifs_queue_oplock_break().
This would trigger a crash due to busy inodes on the next unmount:
BUG: Dentry ... still in use (1) [unmount of cifs cifs] VFS: Busy inodes after unmount of cifs (cifs)
Drop the reference on that path as well. Doing so before the out label mirrors the normal path, which also puts the reference before cifs_done_oplock_break().
Found by Sashiko code review. The failure path was not exercised at runtime.
Patch / fix
- Linux Linux 5.15.224, 6.1.189, 6.5, 6.6.158, 6.12.111, 6.18.53, 7.2.7, 7.3
- linux Debian 12 6.1.190-1
- linux Debian 13 6.12.111-1
- linux Debian 14 7.2.7-1
- linux-6.12 Debian 12 6.12.111-1~deb12u1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97556
- linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42
- linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1016.17
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1016.18
- linux-ibm Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1017.17
- linux-riscv Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42.1
- linux-oracle Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1015.16
- linux-hwe-7.0 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
- linux-oem-7.0 Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1017.17
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97556
Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
- kernel-source Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
- kernel-default Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
- kernel-kvmsmall Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
- kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1.159998.21.42
- kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-64kb SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-source SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-default SLES 16.0, SLE High Availability Extension 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2 +1 more 6.12.0-160000.40.1
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:24550-1SUSE-SU-2026:24422-1SUSE-SU-2026:24446-1SUSE-SU-2026:24437-1SUSE-SU-2026:24386-1
- kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-azure openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:22167-1openSUSE-SU-2026:12074-1
- kernel Azure Linux 3.0 6.6.158.1-1
azure linux advisories AZL-104327
Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/f1fd8a84181b3af03c508e0b02b4877945dd070a commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/55c5f095d4df14271b238f826e1392fda7b6e60e commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/e9c5bcc88b8337157e480c85a6d2f326bc265012 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/9ec991e148368e3207e98134c509a625097f7693 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/dd03fd658ea59821505e0e643b6b7cbdf51c4e1d commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/1d1b0f1d812a4011a57bc6c70492c34a2e46c6dd commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/23b26f4408ac3f35a482d2e5cf6fc865d4201b71 commit
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2026-97556 updated cvss 5.5
kernel: smb: client: avoid leaking refcount when cifs_sb_tlink() fails
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +82 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9 Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-selftests-internal Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8not affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
Exploit prediction
0.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 11% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/f1fd8a84181b3af03c508e0b02b4877945dd070a
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/55c5f095d4df14271b238f826e1392fda7b6e60e
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/e9c5bcc88b8337157e480c85a6d2f326bc265012
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/9ec991e148368e3207e98134c509a625097f7693
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/dd03fd658ea59821505e0e643b6b7cbdf51c4e1d
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/1d1b0f1d812a4011a57bc6c70492c34a2e46c6dd
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/23b26f4408ac3f35a482d2e5cf6fc865d4201b71
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-97556
- NVD CVE-2026-97556
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