Linux Kernel: security vulnerability (CVE-2026-99170)

What is affected, what to do

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: namespace: a mount that copy_tree() leaves out can't take over a lock Since commit c62a4766937e ("move_mount: transfer MNT_LOCKED") a mount can be moved beneath a locked mount. The lock moves from the old cover to the new mount which takes over the job of hiding what's under it and the old cover can be unmounted.

Update Linux Kernel to version 7.2.13, Linux Kernel to version 7.3.

Affected

• Linux Kernel lt 7.1..7.2.13

Fixed in

• Linux Kernel 7.2.13
• Linux Kernel 7.3

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Metrics

Detection rules

No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

Classification under NIS2 and CRA

Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

NIS2

NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

Read in glossary

High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.

CRA

The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

Read in glossary

From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.

ISO/IEC 27001

ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

Read in glossary

Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: namespace: a mount that copy_tree() leaves out can't take over a lock Since commit c62a4766937e ("move_mount: transfer MNT_LOCKED") a mount can be moved beneath a locked mount. The lock moves from the old cover to the new mount which takes over the job of hiding what's under it and the old cover can be unmounted. That works as long as the new mount stays. But the caller picks the new mount and copy_tree() leaves a mount of a mount namespace file out of every copy made without CL_COPY_MNT_NS_FILE, together with everything mounted on it, and never looks at MNT_LOCKED. unshare(CLONE_NEWNS) and mount propagation make such copies. So a task that is root in its own user namespace gets rid of a locked cover on a file without a race and without touching the filesystem below it. It makes a child with a mount namespace of its own, binds the child's /proc/<pid>/ns/mnt beneath the cover with MOVE_MOUNT_BENEATH, which hands the lock to that bind, and calls unshare(CLONE_NEWNS). The new mount namespace has nothing on the file. That's the usual way to mask a single file, a bind of /dev/null or of an empty file. With a bind of an ordinary file the file stays covered. copy_tree() already refuses to leave out a locked unbindable mount with -EPERM since commit df7342b24018 ("mount: Don't allow copying MNT_UNBINDABLE|MNT_LOCKED mounts"). Do the same for a locked mount of a mount namespace file. That also covers a tree copied with CL_COPY_MNT_NS_FILE and attached into a mount namespace of another user namespace where lock_mnt_tree() locks it. Note that unshare(CLONE_NEWNS) and clone(CLONE_NEWNS) fail with EPERM from such a mount namespace from then on. The mount can't be left out and it can't be unmounted. And refuse to move a mount of a mount namespace file beneath a locked mount in the first place. Otherwise the task ends up with a mount it can't unmount and an unshare() that fails for good. Chris also found a second mount that goes away by itself, a clone of an automounted mount that shrink_submounts() took along with its parent. Commit f78ddcc87224 ("namespace: never expire a locked mount") took care of that one. Chris's reproducer is appended. Mode nsfile reads SECRET after the unshare() on 7.3-rc7, with this patch the move_mount() fails with EINVAL and the file stays covered. nsfile-control uses an ordinary file and reads MASK both ways. // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 /* * Get rid of a locked cover with MOVE_MOUNT_BENEATH. * * The "admin" (root) makes a tmpfs W: * W/D file, holds SECRET, covered by a bind of a file with MASK * W/Dd/inner file, holds SECRET, Dd is covered by a bind of a directory * whose "inner" holds MASK * W/own directory of uid 1000 with the file "mine" and the * directory "minedir", whose "inner" holds MINE * W/dbg debugfs, mode 755. dbg/tracing is an automount point * The "attacker" is uid 1000. It enters a new user namespace with a new mount * namespace, so W and both covers are locked there. * * usage: prog MODE * plain put a bind of own/mine beneath the cover of D, unmount the cover * nsfile put a bind of the mount namespace file of a child beneath the * cover of D, then unshare(CLONE_NEWNS) * nsfile-control the same with a bind of own/mine * shrink put a bind of the automounted tracefs beneath the cover of Dd, * unmount the cover, put a tmpfs beneath W, call umount(W), which fails * shrink-control the same with a bind of own/minedir * The environment variable AUTOMOUNT_DIR names another automount point for "shrink". */ #define _GNU_SOURCE #include <errno.h> #include <fcntl.h> #include <grp.h> #include <sched.h> #include <signal.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <string.h> #include <unistd.h> ---truncated---

Source: cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF

Vendors and products

• Linux Linux

References & sources

• git.kernel.orgstable/c/69fbe94f80bc423613fa18dae6656757423732a2
• git.kernel.orgstable/c/bd71d33923b9d6216bcee44331dd37142b0a8441

Changes to this CVE

Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

1. 31.10.2026Record modifiedLinux

   CVSS V3.1: AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

   Show the original change

   Individual changes of this event as published by NVD

   Type	Action	Before	After
   CVSS	added	—	AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

   Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

2. 28.10.2026ReceivedLinux

   Description added or changed

   New references:

   • https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/69fbe94f80bc423613fa18dae6656757423732a2
   • https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bd71d33923b9d6216bcee44331dd37142b0a8441
   Show 4 original changes

   Individual changes of this event as published by NVD

   Type	Action	Before	After
   Description	added	—	In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: namespace: a mount that copy_tree() leaves out can't take over a lock Since commit c62a4766937e ("move_mount: transfer MNT_LOCKED") a mount can be moved beneath a locked mount. The lock moves from the old cover to the new mount which takes over the job of hiding what's under it and the old cover can be unmounted. That works as long as the new mount stays. But the caller picks the new mount and copy_tree() leaves a mount of a mount namespace file out of every copy made without CL_COPY_MNT_NS_FILE, together with everything mounted on it, and never looks at MNT_LOCKED. unshare(CLONE_NEWNS) and mount propagation make such copies. So a task that is root in its own user namespace gets rid of a locked cover on a file without a race and without touching the filesystem below it. It makes a child with a mount namespace of its own, binds the child's /proc/<pid>/ns/mnt beneath the cover with MOVE_MOUNT_BENEATH, which hands the lock to that bind, and calls unshare(CLONE_NEWNS). The new mount namespace has nothing on the file. That's the usual way to mask a single file, a bind of /dev/null or of an empty file. With a bind of an ordinary file the file stays covered. copy_tree() already refuses to leave out a locked unbindable mount with -EPERM since commit df7342b24018 ("mount: Don't allow copying MNT_UNBINDABLE|MNT_LOCKED mounts"). Do the same for a locked mount of a mount namespace file. That also covers a tree copied with CL_COPY_MNT_NS_FILE and attached into a mount namespace of another user namespace where lock_mnt_tree() locks it. Note that unshare(CLONE_NEWNS) and clone(CLONE_NEWNS) fail with EPERM from such a mount namespace from then on. The mount can't be left out and it can't be unmounted. And refuse to move a mount of a mount namespace file beneath a locked mount in the first place. Otherwise the task ends up with a mount it can't unmount and an unshare() that fails for good. Chris also found a second mount that goes away by itself, a clone of an automounted mount that shrink_submounts() took along with its parent. Commit f78ddcc87224 ("namespace: never expire a locked mount") took care of that one. Chris's reproducer is appended. Mode nsfile reads SECRET after the unshare() on 7.3-rc7, with this patch the move_mount() fails with EINVAL and the file stays covered. nsfile-control uses an ordinary file and reads MASK both ways. // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 /* * Get rid of a locked cover with MOVE_MOUNT_BENEATH. * * The "admin" (root) makes a tmpfs W: * W/D file, holds SECRET, covered by a bind of a file with MASK * W/Dd/inner file, holds SECRET, Dd is covered by a bind of a directory * whose "inner" holds MASK * W/own directory of uid 1000 with the file "mine" and the * directory "minedir", whose "inner" holds MINE * W/dbg debugfs, mode 755. dbg/tracing is an automount point * The "attacker" is uid 1000. It enters a new user namespace with a new mount * namespace, so W and both covers are locked there. * * usage: prog MODE * plain put a bind of own/mine beneath the cover of D, unmount the cover * nsfile put a bind of the mount namespace file of a child beneath the * cover of D, then unshare(CLONE_NEWNS) * nsfile-control the same with a bind of own/mine * shrink put a bind of the automounted tracefs beneath the cover of Dd, * unmount the cover, put a tmpfs beneath W, call umount(W), which fails * shrink-control the same with a bind of own/minedir * The environment variable AUTOMOUNT_DIR names another automount point for "shrink". */ #define _GNU_SOURCE #include <errno.h> #include <fcntl.h> #include <grp.h> #include <sched.h> #include <signal.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <string.h> #include <unistd.h> ---truncated---
   Affected versions (publisher)	added	—	New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/99xxx/CVE-2026-99170.json">CVE-2026-99170</a>
   Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/69fbe94f80bc423613fa18dae6656757423732a2
   Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bd71d33923b9d6216bcee44331dd37142b0a8441

   Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67