Improper locking in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-97971
Published: September 28, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU152510
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 8.5 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-97971
CWE-ID: CWE-667
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
The vulnerability exists due to improper reference count handling in legitimize_ns() in kernel/nstree.c when processing namespace listing requests. A local user can invoke listns for a namespace they are not permitted to list to compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Affected software
Linux kernel
How to mitigate CVE-2026-97971
Install security update from vendor's repository.
Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3