IM
IronMonkey Threat Research

CVE-2026-31446 HIGH

Published: 2026-04-22 | Last Modified: 2026-07-14 | Status: Modified

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: fix use-after-free in update_super_work when racing with umount Commit b98535d09179 ("ext4: fix bug_on in start_this_handle during umount filesystem") moved ext4_unregister_sysfs() before flushing s_sb_upd_work to prevent new error work from being queued via /proc/fs/ext4/xx/mb_groups reads during unmount. However, this introduced a use-after-free because update_super_work calls ext4_notify_error_sysfs() -> sysfs_notify() which accesses the kobject's kernfs_node after it has been freed by kobject_del() in ext4_unregister_sysfs(): update_super_work ext4_put_super ----------------- -------------- ext4_unregister_sysfs(sb) kobject_del(&sbi->s_kobj) __kobject_del() sysfs_remove_dir() kobj->sd = NULL sysfs_put(sd) kernfs_put() // RCU free ext4_notify_error_sysfs(sbi) sysfs_notify(&sbi->s_kobj) kn = kobj->sd // stale pointer kernfs_get(kn) // UAF on freed kernfs_node ext4_journal_destroy() flush_work(&sbi->s_sb_upd_work) Instead of reordering the teardown sequence, fix this by making ext4_notify_error_sysfs() detect that sysfs has already been torn down by checking s_kobj.state_in_sysfs, and skipping the sysfs_notify() call in that case. A dedicated mutex (s_error_notify_mutex) serializes ext4_notify_error_sysfs() against kobject_del() in ext4_unregister_sysfs() to prevent TOCTOU races where the kobject could be deleted between the state_in_sysfs check and the sysfs_notify() call.

CVSS Metrics

Base Score: 7.8 (HIGH)

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack VectorLOCAL
Attack ComplexityLOW
Privileges RequiredNONE
User InteractionREQUIRED
ScopeUNCHANGED
Confidentiality ImpactHIGH
Integrity ImpactHIGH
Availability ImpactHIGH

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

Type: Secondary

Exploitability Score: 1.8

Impact Score: 5.9

Weaknesses

Source Type Description
[email protected] Primary
en CWE-416

Affected Products

Vendor Product Version Update Type
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6eda180> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bfc4c0880> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bfc4c1140> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6ed80c0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6eda280> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6eda880> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bddfaa7c0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel * <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6e30fc0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 5.18 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6ed8880> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 5.18 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6eda900> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 5.18 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bdd8779c0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 5.18 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6ed98c0> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 5.18 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6a92340> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 5.18 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6ab7340> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6edb300> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bde246840> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6ed9140> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702ba6ed9540> Operating System
linux linux_kernel 7.0 <built-in method update of dict object at 0x702bdd876300> Operating System

Affected Configurations

Operator: OR

Vulnerable CPE
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.18:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.18:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.18:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.18:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.18:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.18:rc9:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
Yes cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*

References

Notification
Message here