KernelScan.io

HIGH Introduced in 2.6.16

configfs SymlinkTarget UAF

CVE-2026-97950

CVSS 7.0 / 10.0 KernelScan AI

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: configfs: pin the symlink target's dirent instead of chasing ->ci_dentry create_link() reads the target's configfs_dirent from item->ci_dentry->d_fsdata, relying on the item reference taken by get_target(). That reference pins the item, not its dentry: the dentry is pinned by DCACHE_PERSISTENT, which configfs_remove_dir() releases via simple_rmdir() while the item is still alive. A symlink racing with rmdir of its target can therefore find ->ci_dentry freed and its dirent released, triggering WARN_ON(!atomic_read(&sd->s_count)) in configfs_get(). Take the dirent in get_target() as well, under ->d_lock and atomically with the item reference, and pass it down to create_link(). A hashed dentry has not been killed yet, so its ->d_fsdata reference keeps the dirent alive there.

02

Engine v0.6.0

Risk summary

A local attacker who can issue symlink and rmdir operations on a mounted configfs filesystem can exploit a race condition to trigger a use-after-free on internal kernel data structures. This can lead to kernel memory corruption, potentially enabling arbitrary read/write access or denial of service via kernel panic. Systems that use configfs (e.g., USB gadget configuration, OCFS2 cluster stacks) and expose local access are at risk.

Affectedfs/configfs/symlink.c (configfs)

Vulnerability analysis

A race between creating a symlink and removing its target directory in configfs can trigger a use-after-free. The symlink operation held a reference to the target object but not to its underlying directory record, so a concurrent removal could free that record while the symlink code was still reading from it. The corrected code now holds a reference to the directory record for the entire symlink operation, preventing premature freeing. This can be triggered locally by any account that can create symlinks and remove directories in a mounted configfs filesystem.

03

BranchIntroducedFixed inPatch commit
6.122.6.166.12.112846ff40fd57a
6.182.6.166.18.534f54beb2e7f6
6.62.6.166.6.160a44744454eaf
7.22.6.167.2.7d47c5de1cd6b
mainline2.6.167.3a7c1290eef60
cip/6.122.6.166.12.112-cip33846ff40fd57a

04

State of the newest release of each Civil Infrastructure Platform SLTS tree, from CIP's own fix records.

CIP treeState
cip/6.12Fixed in 6.12.112-cip33
cip/6.1Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 6.1.189-cip61)
cip/6.1-rtAffected — no CIP fix yet (latest 6.1.189-cip61-rt32)
cip/5.10Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 5.10.271-cip78)
cip/5.10-rtAffected — no CIP fix yet (latest 5.10.268-cip77-rt34)
cip/4.19Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136)
cip/4.19-rtAffected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136-rt50)
cip/4.4Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.4.302-cip115)
cip/4.4-rtAffected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.4.302-cip115-rt63)