CVE-2026-89600 fanotify: fix use-after-free of file range info
A use-after-free in the Linux kernel fanotify subsystem allows attackers to read stale stack data or cause a system 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-2026-89600?
CVE-2026-89600 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 11 Sep 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:
fanotify: fix use-after-free of file range info
fsnotify_pre_content() builds its file_range on the triggering task's stack. fanotify_alloc_perm_event() saves a pointer to range.pos in the heap-allocated permission event so copy_range_info_to_user() can report the offset later.
The event reader can set the event state to FAN_EVENT_REPORTED and then sleep while preparing the file descriptor. If a signal interrupts the triggering task at that point, fanotify_get_response() changes the state to FAN_EVENT_CANCELED and returns. This unwinds the file_range stack frame while the reader still owns the event. The reader then dereferences pevent->ppos and copies the stale stack value to userspace.
KASAN reported:
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in fanotify_read+0x293e/0x2970 Read of size 8 at addr ffff88811434fc50 by task fanotify_inotif/95 Call Trace: fanotify_read+0x293e/0x2970 vfs_read+0x177/0xa20 ksys_read+0xf7/0x1c0 do_syscall_64+0xf9/0x540 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
Store the range position directly in the permission event and use FANOTIFY_NO_RANGE when range information is unavailable. The event remains alive until the reader finishes, so the reported offset no longer depends on the triggering task's stack.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-89600?
How do I fix CVE-2026-89600?
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-2026-89600 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-89600 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-89600, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-89600, GHSA-hfc9-63gq-6mcj, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-89600.