Use After Free in Linux

CVE-2026-22980

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: provide locking for v4_end_grace Writing to v4_end_grace can race with server shutdown and result in memory being accessed after it was freed - reclaim_str_hashtbl in particularly. We cannot hold nfsd_mutex across the nfsd4_end_grace() call as that is held while client_tracking_op->init() is called and that can wait for an upcall to nfsdcltrack which can write to v4_end_grace, resulting in a deadlock. nfsd4_end_grace() is also called by the landromat work queue and this doesn't require locking as server shutdown will stop the work and wait for it before freeing anything that nfsd4_end_grace() might access. However, we must be sure that writing to v4_end_grace doesn't restart the work item after shutdown has already waited for it. For this we add a new flag protected with nn->client_lock. It is set only while it is safe to make client tracking calls, and v4_end_grace only schedules work while the flag is set with the spinlock held. So this patch adds a nfsd_net field "client_tracking_active" which is set as described. Another field "grace_end_forced", is set when v4_end_grace is written. After this is set, and providing client_tracking_active is set, the laundromat is scheduled. This "grace_end_forced" field bypasses other checks for whether the grace period has finished. This resolves a race which can result in use-after-free.

Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free

Published 2026-01-23 · last modified 2026-07-14.