# CVE-2026-98985: namespace: check the mounts before reading their parents in pivot_root()

CVE-2026-98985 is fixed in linux on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98985, released October 24, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Routine.

- Web page: https://patchblox.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-98985
- Priority: Routine
- CVSS: 4.7 (Moderate)
- EPSS: 0.0018
- CISA KEV: not listed
- Exploited (vendor report): no
- Publicly disclosed: no
- Published: Oct 23, 2026
- Vendor advisory: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98985

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:  namespace: check the mounts before reading their parents in pivot_root()  path_pivot_root() reads the parents of new_root and of the caller's root and checks whether they are shared before it checks that either mount is in the caller's mount namespace. Only namespace_sem is held. That's fine for a mount that is in the caller's mount namespace.  But new_root can be a file descriptor to a mount that has been unmounted and that only the file descriptor keeps alive. If that mount stayed attached to its parent when it was unmounted nothing pins the parent for it. The final mntput() of the parent unhooks the children under mount_lock alone and frees the parent afterwards:    pivot_root()                     close(fd), last ref on the parent   ------------                     ---------------------------------   ex_parent = new_mnt->mnt_parent                                    mntput_no_expire_slowpath()                                      __umount_mnt(new_mnt)                                    cleanup_mnt()                                      call_rcu()   IS_MNT_SHARED(ex_parent)    BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in path_pivot_root+0xf1a/0x1840   Read of size 4 at addr ffff8881047382f8 by task pivot_widen/157    path_pivot_root+0xf1a/0x1840    __x64_sys_pivot_root+0x165/0x190  The same goes for the caller's root via chroot(). Both outcomes of the check end in EINVAL so nothing but the read itself goes wrong. It's the same thing commit bb4609405752 ("statmount: read the parent of an unmounted mount under mount_lock") fixed for statmount().  Check that both mounts are in the caller's namespace before their parents are read. Every path returns EINVAL either way.

## Where it's fixed

| Platform | Product | Fixed in | Fix | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | linux Debian 13.5 (trixie) | 6.12.115-2 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98985](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-98985.md) | Oct 24, 2026 |
| Linux | linux Debian 14 | 7.2.11-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98985](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-98985.md) | Oct 24, 2026 |

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Data as of 2026-11-08T00:53:09Z UTC. Source: Patchblox Patch Radar (https://patchblox.com/security/patch-radar). Patchblox finds out-of-date software on Windows, macOS and Linux and updates it through release rings: https://patchblox.com/demo

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