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CVE-2026-98388

Updated on 14 Oct 2026

Severity

5.5 Medium severity

Details

CVSS score
5.5
Links
NISTCIRCLRHELUbuntu

Overview

About vulnerability

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

exec: do_close_on_exec() before taking exec_update_lock

do_close_on_exec() currently happens while holding the exec_update_lock, which is used in a lot of places that access process state to synchronize access checks. I recently added another such use of exec_update_lock, causing a regression.

do_close_on_exec() can block waiting for a reply from a filesystem. That means a hung filesystem can block codepaths that use exec_update_lock; and it also means that a FUSE filesystem which attempts to inspect the calling process can deadlock.

To avoid such problems, move do_close_on_exec() before the exec_update_lock is taken, but after the FD table has been copied if necessary.

I have looked through all the calls between the old and new position of the do_close_on_exec() call; there seems to be no file descriptor table access in between.

Details

KernelCare state

Live-patch status from KernelCare for each operating system.

Operating system Status Covered kernels
AlmaLinux 9.2 ESU Planned —
Debian 12 In Rollout
44 kernels
  • 6.1.177-1
  • 6.1.180-1
  • 6.1.187-1
  • 6.1.38-1
  • 6.1.38-2
  • 6.1.38-4
  • 6.1.52-1
  • 6.1.55-1
  • 6.1.64-1
  • 6.1.66-1
  • 6.1.69-1
  • 6.1.76-1
  • 6.1.27-1
  • 6.1.67-1
  • 6.1.85-1
  • 6.1.90-1
  • 6.1.94-1
  • 6.1.99-1
  • 6.1.106-3
  • 6.1.112-1
  • 6.1.115-1
  • 6.1.119-1
  • 6.1.123-1
  • 6.1.128-1
  • 6.1.124-1
  • 6.1.129-1
  • 6.1.133-1
  • 6.1.135-1
  • 6.1.137-1
  • 6.1.140-1
  • 6.1.139-1
  • 6.1.147-1
  • 6.1.148-1
  • 6.1.153-1
  • 6.1.158-1
  • 6.1.159-1
  • 6.1.162-1
  • 6.1.164-1
  • 6.1.170-1
  • 6.1.170-3
  • 6.1.172-1
  • 6.1.174-1
  • 6.1.170-2
  • 6.1.176-1
Oracle Linux 8 UEK 7 Planned —
Oracle Linux 9 UEK 7 Planned —
Ubuntu 22.04 Planned —
Ubuntu 22.04 AWS Planned —
Ubuntu 22.04 Azure Planned —
Ubuntu 26.04 Planned —