CVE-2026-98979

namespace: refuse an automount below a mount that is in no namespace

CVE-2026-98979 is fixed in 19 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98979, released October 24, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Routine.

Routine
CVSS
5.5
Moderate
Exploitation
None reported
No vendor assessment
CISA KEV
Not listed
Not in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
EPSS
0.0021
11th percentile

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: namespace: refuse an automount below a mount that is in no namespace It's possible to add autmounts even when the parent mount isn't in the mount namespace of the caller. The only requirement we have is that the parent mount namespace must not be NULL, i.e., unmounted. Problem is that clone_private_mount() has MNT_NS_INTERNAL which makes that trivially true. So that passes the test and attach_recursive_mnt() accepts that as a mount point and funny enough, count_mounts() dereferences MNT_NS_INTERNAL. The problem is it is an error pointer... So we can reach this in userspace via fanotify. A filesystem mark on the lower filesystem of an overlay reports paths on the layer clone and reading the event hands out a descriptor on it. For example with debugfs as the lower layer it goes kaboom: openat(evfd, "tracing", O_DIRECTORY) Oops: general protection fault KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x1d0-0x1d7] RIP: 0010:count_mounts+0x35/0x200 attach_recursive_mnt finish_automount And since that sleeping beauty happens under namespace_sem held for writing every mount operation on the system blocks from then on. Congrats. Use is_mounted() instead which rejects unmounted and internal mounts alike. The open fails with EINVAL just as it did before clone_private_mount() used MNT_NS_INTERNAL.

Where it's fixed

ProductFixed inFixReleased
Linux
bpftool6.12 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
bpftool6.12-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-livepatch-6.12.113-138.209 · amzn 2023 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-debuginfo-common-aarch64 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-debuginfo-common-x86_64 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-devel · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-headers · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-modules-extra · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-modules-extra-common · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-tools · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-tools-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.12-tools-devel · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
linux · Debian 13.5 (trixie) 6.12.113-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98979 Oct 24, 2026
linux · Debian 14 7.2.11-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98979 Oct 24, 2026
perf6.12 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
perf6.12-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
python3-perf6.12 · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026
python3-perf6.12-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3335 Nov 7, 2026

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