# CVE-2026-98451: smb: client: use finish_no_open() for non-regular inodes

> A local attacker can cause a memory leak and potential denial of service in the Linux kernel SMB client by opening non-regular inodes.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 18 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 24 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-108800, BELL-CVE-2026-98451, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98451, GHSA-8vx8-gc8p-9x99, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98451

## What is CVE-2026-98451?

CVE-2026-98451 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 18 Oct 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:

smb: client: use finish_no_open() for non-regular inodes

An O_CREAT open can find an existing symlink or another non-regular
inode. cifs_atomic_open() calls finish_open() on it and attaches a
cifsFileInfo. Symlink inodes have no CIFS release operation, so the
dentry reference held by cifsFileInfo is leaked. FMODE_OPENED also
prevents the VFS from following the symlink.

Track whether cifs_do_create() returned an open server handle. For
non-regular inodes, close the handle if present, remove the pending
open, and call finish_no_open() so the VFS can continue the lookup.
Do not set FMODE_CREATED unless a regular file was opened. For
O_NOFOLLOW with __O_REGULAR, return -ELOOP before the VFS's
-EFTYPE check.

Defer closing a legacy POSIX handle on a non-regular inode until
after inode lookup. This avoids closing it again if lookup fails.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98451?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98451?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98451 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98451 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98451 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98451 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 18 Oct 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98451 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98451/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98451/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98451
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98451
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98451

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98451/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.