High severity · published Sep 11, 2026
CVE-2026-89696
nfsd: block non-SAVEFH ops after FOREIGN PUTFH to prevent NULL deref
7.5
CVSS
0.8%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: block non-SAVEFH ops after FOREIGN PUTFH to prevent NULL deref When CONFIG_NFSD_V4_2_INTER_SSC is enabled, nfsd4_putfh() can return success with fh_dentry and fh_export both NULL if fh_verify() returns nfserr_stale and putfh->no_verify is true. The NFSD4_FH_FOREIGN flag is set, but the compound dispatch loop only uses this flag to bypass the nfserr_nofilehandle check -- it does not prevent subsequent ops from running with a NULL fh_dentry. A remote client can exploit this by crafting a COMPOUND that includes an inter-SSC COPY (which causes check_if_stalefh_allowed() to set no_verify=true on the saved PUTFH) with an additional op inserted between the source PUTFH and SAVEFH. For example, SETATTR calls fh_want_write() which dereferences fh_export->ex_path.mnt without calling fh_verify() first, causing a NULL pointer dereference in the nfsd kthread. Fix this by gating the dispatch loop: when NFSD4_FH_FOREIGN is set and fh_dentry is NULL, only OP_SAVEFH (needed for the inter-SSC flow) and ops with ALLOWED_WITHOUT_FH (which don't need a resolved filehandle) may proceed. All other ops receive nfserr_stale, per RFC 7862 Section 15.2.3 which specifies that foreign filehandle validation is deferred to the consuming operation and NFS4ERR_STALE returned at that point.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.8% · higher than 55% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
LI
Linux · Linux
b9e8638e3d9ed8334f1f7071e081860aac37e83e before ffdc844e673d2bcb2af8c8c3eef8cdea59d0bf32; b9e8638e3d9ed8334f1f7071e081860aac37e83e before 00c84f4eec715e501efc080a5670114189e42507; b9e8638e3d9ed8334f1f7071e081860aac37e83e before 2d9846fd1c767920fddd4bde30eb35cd2969df13; b9e8638e3d9ed8334f1f7071e081860aac37e83e before 977e6f006a7a3ffc4216ae6034f768f8de6fd138; b9e8638e3d9ed8334f1f7071e081860aac37e83e before 35f248bd40b47b229d4999581df45b97daadd977; b9e8638e3d9ed8334f1f7071e081860aac37e83e before 311f7d926630940650447cbd1c932b076b40a6c4; +3 more · source: vendor