CVE-2026-64108 cifs: Fix busy dentry used after unmounting
A race condition in the Linux kernel CIFS module allows a use-after-free of a dentry during unmount, potentially causing a kernel warning or crash.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-64108?
CVE-2026-64108 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jul 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
cifs: Fix busy dentry used after unmounting
Since commit 340cea84f691c ("cifs: open files should not hold ref on superblock"), cifs file only holds the dentry ref_cnt, the cifs file close work(cfile->deferred) could be executed after unmounting, which will trigger a warning in generic_shutdown_super: BUG: Dentry 00000000a14a6845{i=c,n=file} still in use (1) [unmount of cifs cifs]
The detailed processs is: process A process B kworker fd = open(PATH) vfs_open file->__f_path = *path // dentry->d_lockref.count = 1 cifs_open cifs_new_fileinfo cfile->dentry = dget(dentry) // dentry->d_lockref.count = 2 close(fd) __fput cifs_close queue_delayed_work(deferredclose_wq, cfile->deferred) dput(dentry) // dentry->d_lockref.count = 1 smb2_deferred_work_close _cifsFileInfo_put list_del(&cifs_file->flist) umount cleanup_mnt deactivate_super cifs_kill_sb cifs_close_all_deferred_files_sb cifs_close_all_deferred_files // cannot find cfile, skip _cifsFileInfo_put kill_anon_super generic_shutdown_super shrink_dcache_for_umount umount_check WARN ! // dentry->d_lockref.count = 1 cifsFileInfo_put_final dput(cifs_file->dentry) // dentry->d_lockref.count = 0
Fix it by flushing 'deferredclose_wq' before calling kill_anon_super.
Fetch a reproducer in https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=221548.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-64108?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-64108?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2026-64108 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-64108 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-64108, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-64108, GHSA-3mrw-xf65-fqjh, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-64108.