CVEvulnerability
CVE-2026-99040
- Status
- Received
- Published
- 2026-10-23
- Last modified
- 2026-10-30
- Assigner
- 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KEYS: Fix add_key() race with keyring restriction
__key_create_or_update() snapshots keyring->restrict_link before taking
the destination keyring's semaphore. keyring_restrict() installs a
restriction while holding that semaphore.
This allows a writer to observe no restriction, wait for the keyring
owner to install a reject-all restriction and return successfully, and
then link a key using the stale NULL snapshot. The writer only needs
write permission on the destination keyring.
Move the restrict_link read after __key_link_lock() and
__key_link_begin(). The read and the subsequent restriction check are
then serialized with restriction installation by keyring->sem.
The race was reproduced on v7.2.8 in 19 executions where restriction
installation returned before the link completed. All 19 linked the key
despite the reject-all restriction. With this change, 312 executions
reached the same ordering and every add_key() call failed with -EPERM.
The issue was found by manual concurrency analysis assisted by AI-based
analysis and independently verified with a QEMU reproducer and kernel
instrumentation.
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/11516a0c402a6c1fa52254aa70d8d65fb921e59e git.kernel.org
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/24806fc9bca28fa1433bf938d1424dcb45d80e50 git.kernel.org
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/305f1828b871dd46bf41addeb6f11d2c162dcb25 git.kernel.org
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9a5c2700336878465a630804a2d21864f22eca9c git.kernel.org
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b3e404550dc2b7f3d4bb64b1da8005a1fa9a798d git.kernel.org
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/da0b595d8e6e2dd798f6e34e09dc51a13b888514 git.kernel.org
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dd3ea3fcba7c75493760cdbccd35f029597e8d5e git.kernel.org
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f99399b48e3edd6851fac34cd329bab9f1f33baf git.kernel.org