CVE-2026-23427

Critical · 9.8

CVSS

9.8

EPSS

0.3%

Published

Apr 3, 2026

CISA due date

—

Cloudanix analysis

Act now SSVC: Track

A bug in the Linux kernel's built-in file sharing feature can let remote attackers take control of affected computers.

Exploitation: Remote Unauthenticated
Attacker needs: None
Complexity: Low
Impact: Remote Code Execution
Component: OS kernel
Class: Use After Free
Remediation: Upgrade
Effort: Medium
Patch risk: Low

What it actually does

Unconditional overwrite of fp->conn pointer during DURABLE_REQ_V2 replay handling allows a freed connection object to be dereferenced later in __ksmbd_close_fd via spin_lock on llist_lock, resulting in kernel use-after-free.

Why it matters to the business

Remote attackers can crash or potentially execute arbitrary code on Linux servers exposing the kernel SMB service, leading to denial of service or full system compromise with high urgency for internet-facing systems.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker establishes an SMB session, sends a crafted SMB2 request containing DURABLE_REQ_V2 context with REPLAY_OPERATION flag, triggering parse_durable_handle_context to overwrite an active file handle's connection pointer; subsequent connection teardown frees the original object while a later close operation dereferences the stale pointer.

How to fix it

Apply the upstream ksmbd fix for durable handle replay handling as soon as it is available in your distribution kernel; until then disable ksmbd or restrict SMB access to trusted networks only.

How to confirm the fix worked

Verify the patch is present by inspecting the ksmbd durable handle context parsing code for proper conn filtering before assignment; confirm no KASAN reports occur under replay workloads after upgrade.

Typical attack path

Connect to ksmbd over TCP port 445
Negotiate SMB2 dialect and establish session/tree connect
Send SMB2_CREATE with DURABLE_REQ_V2 context and SMB2_FLAGS_REPLAY_OPERATION
Trigger lookup and close paths that dereference the overwritten conn pointer
Cause kernel slab use-after-free during spinlock acquisition

How to detect it

Search kernel logs for KASAN use-after-free reports referencing _raw_spin_lock inside __ksmbd_close_fd or handle_ksmbd_work; inspect SMB2 traffic for DURABLE_REQ_V2 contexts carrying REPLAY_OPERATION flags from untrusted sources.

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in _raw_spin_lock
ksmbd: fix use-after-free in durable v2 replay
handle_ksmbd_work
__ksmbd_close_fd
ksmbd_tcp_disconnect

What your security team should do

Prioritize kernel updates for all systems running ksmbd
Temporarily disable the ksmbd module or block port 445 where possible
Monitor for kernel oops or slab corruption logs involving ksmbd functions
Review SMB exposure and apply network segmentation

The record

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: fix use-after-free in durable v2 replay of active file handles parse_durable_handle_context() unconditionally assigns dh_info->fp->conn to the current connection when handling a DURABLE_REQ_V2 context with SMB2_FLAGS_REPLAY_OPERATION. ksmbd_lookup_fd_cguid() does not filter by fp->conn, so it returns file handles that are already actively connected. The unconditional overwrite replaces fp->conn, and when the overwriting connection is subsequently freed, __ksmbd_close_fd() dereferences the stale fp->conn via spin_lock(&fp->conn->llist_lock), causing a use-after-free. KASAN report: [ 7.349357] ================================================================== [ 7.349607] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in _raw_spin_lock+0x75/0xe0 [ 7.349811] Write of size 4 at addr ffff8881056ac18c by task kworker/1:2/108 [ 7.350010] [ 7.350064] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 108 Comm: kworker/1:2 Not tainted 7.0.0-rc3+ #58 PREEMPTLAZY [ 7.350068] Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC v2 (i440FX + PIIX, arch_caps fix, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 [ 7.350070] Workqueue: ksmbd-io handle_ksmbd_work [ 7.350083] Call Trace: [ 7.350087] <TASK> [ 7.350087] dump_stack_lvl+0x64/0x80 [ 7.350094] print_report+0xce/0x660 [ 7.350100] ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x10 [ 7.350101] ? __pfx___mod_timer+0x10/0x10 [ 7.350106] ? _raw_spin_lock+0x75/0xe0 [ 7.350108] kasan_report+0xce/0x100 [ 7.350109] ? _raw_spin_lock+0x75/0xe0 [ 7.350114] kasan_check_range+0x105/0x1b0 [ 7.350116] _raw_spin_lock+0x75/0xe0 [ 7.350118] ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock+0x10/0x10 [ 7.350119] ? __call_rcu_common.constprop.0+0x25e/0x780 [ 7.350125] ? close_id_del_oplock+0x2cc/0x4e0 [ 7.350128] __ksmbd_close_fd+0x27f/0xaf0 [ 7.350131] ksmbd_close_fd+0x135/0x1b0 [ 7.350133] smb2_close+0xb19/0x15b0 [ 7.350142] ? __pfx_smb2_close+0x10/0x10 [ 7.350143] ? xas_load+0x18/0x270 [ 7.350146] ? _raw_spin_lock+0x84/0xe0 [ 7.350148] ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock+0x10/0x10 [ 7.350150] ? _raw_spin_unlock+0xe/0x30 [ 7.350151] ? ksmbd_smb2_check_message+0xeb2/0x24c0 [ 7.350153] ? ksmbd_tree_conn_lookup+0xcd/0xf0 [ 7.350154] handle_ksmbd_work+0x40f/0x1080 [ 7.350156] process_one_work+0x5fa/0xef0 [ 7.350162] ? assign_work+0x122/0x3e0 [ 7.350163] worker_thread+0x54b/0xf70 [ 7.350165] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 [ 7.350166] kthread+0x346/0x470 [ 7.350170] ? recalc_sigpending+0x19b/0x230 [ 7.350176] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 7.350178] ret_from_fork+0x4fb/0x6c0 [ 7.350183] ? __pfx_ret_from_fork+0x10/0x10 [ 7.350185] ? __switch_to+0x36c/0xbe0 [ 7.350188] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 7.350190] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [ 7.350197] </TASK> [ 7.350197] [ 7.355160] Allocated by task 123: [ 7.355261] kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 [ 7.355373] kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 [ 7.355484] __kasan_kmalloc+0x8f/0xa0 [ 7.355593] ksmbd_conn_alloc+0x44/0x6d0 [ 7.355711] ksmbd_kthread_fn+0x243/0xd70 [ 7.355839] kthread+0x346/0x470 [ 7.355942] ret_from_fork+0x4fb/0x6c0 [ 7.356051] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [ 7.356164] [ 7.356214] Freed by task 134: [ 7.356305] kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 [ 7.356416] kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 [ 7.356527] kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x60 [ 7.356646] __kasan_slab_free+0x43/0x70 [ 7.356761] kfree+0x1ca/0x430 [ 7.356862] ksmbd_tcp_disconnect+0x59/0xe0 [ 7.356993] ksmbd_conn_handler_loop+0x77e/0xd40 [ 7.357138] kthread+0x346/0x470 [ 7.357240] ret_from_fork+0x4fb/0x6c0 [ 7.357350] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [ 7.357463] [ 7.357513] The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff8881056ac000 [ 7.357513] which belongs to the cache kmalloc-1k of size 1024 [ 7.357857] The buggy address is located 396 bytes inside of [ 7.357857] freed 1024-byte region ---truncated---

Affected packages

Ecosystem	Package	Introduced	Fixed