Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98448

Vulnerability identifier: #VU156746

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 4.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-98448

CWE-ID: CWE-772

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local privileged user to cause resource retention that may lead to a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to a missing inode reference release in the XFS orphanage directory creation function when changing the directory's ownership fails. A local privileged user can trigger the affected error path to leave an acquired inode reference unreleased, potentially causing resource exhaustion and a denial of service.

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package)
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package)
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package)

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42
linux-aws (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.17
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.18
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1015.16
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1c32cdc986467eaffeedb6c5334852809555b82d
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a65a68097a1903988b256d5b367da7b0863a1d5
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6b66b1a59df6c3f9b4ad9b39a32ca86170ade357
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f813aefd9e09c8cda38a71580b6a01552d97cade

• Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime in Linux kernel xfs scrub
• Ubuntu update for linux-oem-7.0
• Ubuntu update for linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp and more