HIGH
ceph PathInfo Corruption
CVE-2026-43408
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
KernelScan AI5.5MEDIUM
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ceph: add a bunch of missing ceph_path_info initializers ceph_mdsc_build_path() must be called with a zero-initialized ceph_path_info parameter, or else the following ceph_mdsc_free_path_info() may crash. Example crash (on Linux 6.18.12): virt_to_cache: Object is not a Slab page! WARNING: CPU: 184 PID: 2871736 at mm/slub.c:6732 kmem_cache_free+0x316/0x400 [...] Call Trace: [...] ceph_open+0x13d/0x3e0 do_dentry_open+0x134/0x480 vfs_open+0x2a/0xe0 path_openat+0x9a3/0x1160 [...] cache_from_obj: Wrong slab cache. names_cache but object is from ceph_inode_info WARNING: CPU: 184 PID: 2871736 at mm/slub.c:6746 kmem_cache_free+0x2dd/0x400 [...] kernel BUG at mm/slub.c:634! Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI RIP: 0010:__slab_free+0x1a4/0x350 Some of the ceph_mdsc_build_path() callers had initializers, but others had not, even though they were all added by commit 15f519e9f883 ("ceph: fix race condition validating r_parent before applying state"). The ones without initializer are suspectible to random crashes. (I can imagine it could even be possible to exploit this bug to elevate privileges.) Unfortunately, these Ceph functions are undocumented and its semantics can only be derived from the code. I see that ceph_mdsc_build_path() initializes the structure only on success, but not on error. Calling ceph_mdsc_free_path_info() after a failed ceph_mdsc_build_path() call does not even make sense, but that's what all callers do, and for it to be safe, the structure must be zero-initialized. The least intrusive approach to fix this is therefore to add initializers everywhere.
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
Systems with mounted Ceph filesystems are vulnerable to kernel crashes when performing normal filesystem operations. The vulnerability can cause immediate system unavailability through kernel panics, affecting any system relying on Ceph for storage.
Vulnerability analysis
The vulnerability occurs when ceph_path_info structures are not zero-initialized before being passed to ceph_mdsc_build_path(). When this function fails, it leaves the structure uninitialized, but callers still invoke ceph_mdsc_free_path_info() which attempts to free random memory addresses from the uninitialized pointers. This causes slab corruption and kernel crashes. The fix adds proper zero-initialization to all affected structure declarations. The attack surface is local filesystem operations on mounted Ceph filesystems, requiring no special privileges beyond normal filesystem access.
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|
| 6.12 | 6.12.78 | 644b47f0574f |
| 6.17 | 6.17 | 8be8911f5908 |
| 6.18 | 6.18.19 | 453df1f45358 |
| 6.19 | 6.19.9 | 43323a5934b6 |
| mainline | 7.0 | — |