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FKIE_CVE-2026-74342

Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2026-08-15 06:22 - Updated: 2026-08-17 06:19
Severity
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kernfs: link kn to its parent before the LSM init hook After commit 12e9e3cd03b5 ("simpe_xattr: use per-sb cache"), kernfs_xattr_set() and kernfs_xattr_get() compute the cache via kernfs_root(kn) before any other check. kernfs_root(kn) walks kn->__parent first and falls back to kn->dir.root, both of which are NULL on a freshly kmem_cache_zalloc()'d kn. kn->__parent was being set in kernfs_new_node() after __kernfs_new_node() returned, and kn->dir.root is set even later by kernfs_create_dir_ns() / kernfs_create_empty_dir(). The LSM kernfs_init_security hook is invoked from inside __kernfs_new_node(), before either field has been initialized. selinux_kernfs_init_security() ends with kernfs_xattr_set(kn, XATTR_NAME_SELINUX, ...). kernfs_root(kn) then returns NULL, and &((struct kernfs_root *)NULL)->xa_cache evaluates to offsetof(struct kernfs_root, xa_cache) which faults: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000e0 RIP: 0010:simple_xattr_set+0x27/0x8b0 Call Trace: kernfs_xattr_set+0x63/0xb0 selinux_kernfs_init_security+0x13b/0x270 security_kernfs_init_security+0x36/0xc0 __kernfs_new_node+0x182/0x290 kernfs_new_node+0x80/0xc0 kernfs_create_dir_ns+0x2b/0xa0 cgroup_create+0x116/0x380 cgroup_mkdir+0x7c/0x1a0 Reproduces deterministically at PID 1 (systemd) on an SELinux-enabled distro. The first cgroup mkdir under /sys/fs/cgroup with a labelled parent panics the kernel. The LSM hook's contract is that the kn_dir argument is the parent of the new kn, so kn->__parent should already point at kn_dir when the hook runs. Move kernfs_get(parent) and rcu_assign_pointer of kn->__parent from kernfs_new_node() into __kernfs_new_node() right before the security hook, and unwind the parent reference on the err_out4 path. kernfs_root(kn) then takes its parent branch during the hook and returns parent->dir.root, which is the correct root. This also closes the same-shape latent bug in kernfs_xattr_get() (which today is hidden only by kernfs_iattrs_noalloc() returning NULL on a fresh kn).
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "fs/kernfs/dir.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "319b82e8b46edaf557436ad858e734e583f78ec9",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "6cccc49b027c7551ffc1d2532f2ef1922661f3da",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "7.1.5",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "fs/kernfs/dir.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.1.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.1.5",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    }
  ],
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nkernfs: link kn to its parent before the LSM init hook\n\nAfter commit 12e9e3cd03b5 (\"simpe_xattr: use per-sb cache\"),\nkernfs_xattr_set() and kernfs_xattr_get() compute the cache via\nkernfs_root(kn) before any other check.  kernfs_root(kn) walks\nkn-\u003e__parent first and falls back to kn-\u003edir.root, both of which are\nNULL on a freshly kmem_cache_zalloc()\u0027d kn. kn-\u003e__parent was being set\nin kernfs_new_node() after __kernfs_new_node() returned, and kn-\u003edir.root\nis set even later by kernfs_create_dir_ns() / kernfs_create_empty_dir().\n\nThe LSM kernfs_init_security hook is invoked from inside\n__kernfs_new_node(), before either field has been initialized.\nselinux_kernfs_init_security() ends with kernfs_xattr_set(kn,\nXATTR_NAME_SELINUX, ...).  kernfs_root(kn) then returns NULL, and\n\u0026((struct kernfs_root *)NULL)-\u003exa_cache evaluates to\noffsetof(struct kernfs_root, xa_cache) which faults:\n\n  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000000e0\n  RIP: 0010:simple_xattr_set+0x27/0x8b0\n  Call Trace:\n   kernfs_xattr_set+0x63/0xb0\n   selinux_kernfs_init_security+0x13b/0x270\n   security_kernfs_init_security+0x36/0xc0\n   __kernfs_new_node+0x182/0x290\n   kernfs_new_node+0x80/0xc0\n   kernfs_create_dir_ns+0x2b/0xa0\n   cgroup_create+0x116/0x380\n   cgroup_mkdir+0x7c/0x1a0\n\nReproduces deterministically at PID 1 (systemd) on an SELinux-enabled\ndistro. The first cgroup mkdir under /sys/fs/cgroup with a labelled\nparent panics the kernel.\n\nThe LSM hook\u0027s contract is that the kn_dir argument is the parent of\nthe new kn, so kn-\u003e__parent should already point at kn_dir when the\nhook runs.  Move kernfs_get(parent) and rcu_assign_pointer of\nkn-\u003e__parent from kernfs_new_node() into __kernfs_new_node() right\nbefore the security hook, and unwind the parent reference on the\nerr_out4 path.  kernfs_root(kn) then takes its parent branch during\nthe hook and returns parent-\u003edir.root, which is the correct root.\n\nThis also closes the same-shape latent bug in kernfs_xattr_get() (which\ntoday is hidden only by kernfs_iattrs_noalloc() returning NULL on a\nfresh kn)."
    }
  ],
  "id": "CVE-2026-74342",
  "lastModified": "2026-08-17T06:19:28.763",
  "metrics": {},
  "published": "2026-08-15T06:22:35.253",
  "references": [
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/319b82e8b46edaf557436ad858e734e583f78ec9"
    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6cccc49b027c7551ffc1d2532f2ef1922661f3da"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
  "vulnStatus": "Received"
}



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