CVE-2026-98452 smb: client: clean up failed cached directory opens
A flaw in the Linux kernel SMB client fails to properly clean up cached directory handles, potentially leading to resource exhaustion and denial of service.
- 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-2026-98452?
CVE-2026-98452 is a denial of service 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: clean up failed cached directory opens
open_cached_dir() sends CREATE and QUERY_INFO as a compound request. If the CREATE succeeds but a later command returns an error, the function must retain the CREATE FID so common cleanup can issue SMB2_close(). It also must not treat a response error as a valid CREATE.
Validate the CREATE response before using its fields, record the FIDs, and mark the handle open before handling errors from later compound commands. Move the -EREMCHG reconnect handling before response validation so a missing response does not hide the reconnect request. Count the handle when it is marked open; confirmed close responses decrement the counter, while existing close retry behavior remains best effort on transport failures.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98452?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98452?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-98452 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98452 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-109101, BELL-CVE-2026-98452, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98452, GHSA-h9j7-fw85-wm4j, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98452.