Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98553

Vulnerability identifier: #VU156856

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-2026-98553

CWE-ID: CWE-772

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local privileged user to potentially cause a denial of service through kernel resource exhaustion.

The vulnerability exists due to missing release of a pipe file reference in the Linux kernel autofs subsystem when mount setup fails or is abandoned before AUTOFS_SBI_CATATONIC is cleared. A local privileged user can trigger repeated unsuccessful mount setup operations to accumulate leaked file references and potentially exhaust kernel resources. During cleanup, autofs_kill_sb() calls autofs_catatonic_mode(), which returns early because the flag remains set, leaving the sbi->pipe reference unreleased.

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux-nvidia-tegra (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-tegra-igx (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 (Ubuntu package)
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws (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-nvidia-tegra (Ubuntu package) - update to 5.15.0-1070.72
linux-nvidia-tegra-igx (Ubuntu package) - update to 5.15.0-1059.59
linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 (Ubuntu package) - update to 5.15.0-1070.72~20.04.1
linux (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.18
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1015.16
linux-aws (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.17
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/0662b1ff9b383d5a233d344e4dc518c27a17f7b8
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/34fa4c1c6e10507dc60e35a82cc9655666946cfd
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3684e2273ba94553af3c5195a46a50214a1a96e3
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4bcb371019097d0e357f097902587401c509bbc9
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a58593b501b7be5ad2bc5181bfa8cd4599be257c
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa5e44b29ffe4eaa08cc2237fd65bc2596bc023e
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f1c57f5b16bbc3571bd479c290996c4d4e1fb931
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fc4fd0281ac80b5a3c5a2330f688f0f9d2a420b6

• Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime in Linux kernel autofs
• Ubuntu update for linux-oem-7.0
• Ubuntu update for linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp and more
• Ubuntu update for linux-nvidia-tegra, linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15, linux-nvidia-tegra-igx
• Ubuntu update for linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.15 and more