CVE-2026-98451

/// Technical description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

smb: client: use finish_no_open() for non-regular inodes

An O_CREAT open can find an existing symlink or another non-regular

inode. cifs_atomic_open() calls finish_open() on it and attaches a

cifsFileInfo. Symlink inodes have no CIFS release operation, so the

dentry reference held by cifsFileInfo is leaked. FMODE_OPENED also

prevents the VFS from following the symlink.

Track whether cifs_do_create() returned an open server handle. For

non-regular inodes, close the handle if present, remove the pending

open, and call finish_no_open() so the VFS can continue the lookup.

Do not set FMODE_CREATED unless a regular file was opened. For

O_NOFOLLOW with __O_REGULAR, return -ELOOP before the VFS's

-EFTYPE check.

Defer closing a legacy POSIX handle on a non-regular inode until

after inode lookup. This avoids closing it again if lookup fails.

/// Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

/// References