Vulnerability in Linux
CVE-2026-53396
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: fix posix_acl leak and ignored error in nfsd4_create_file nfsd4_create_file() has two bugs in its ACL handling: The return value of nfsd4_acl_to_attr() is silently discarded. When the NFSv4-to-POSIX ACL conversion fails (e.g., -EINVAL for unsupported ACE types), the file is created without any ACL and the client receives NFS4_OK. This violates RFC 7530/8881 which require the server to reject unsupported attributes on CREATE. When start_creating() fails after ACL attributes have been populated in attrs (either via nfsd4_acl_to_attr or via ownership transfer from open->op_dpacl/op_pacl), the function jumps to out_write which skips nfsd_attrs_free(). The posix_acl allocations are leaked. A client can trigger this repeatedly with OPEN(CREATE), ACL attributes, and an invalid filename (e.g., longer than NAME_MAX). Fix both by capturing the nfsd4_acl_to_attr() return value and by changing the early error paths to jump to out instead of out_write. Initialize child to ERR_PTR(-EINVAL) so that end_creating() is safe to call even if start_creating() was never reached.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.1 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.003 (21.3th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 21st percentile — 21.3% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.003 · change: -0.001
Affected products
- Linux — versions 7.2-rc1, 7.2, 6.19
- Linux Kernel
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-53396?
- CVE-2026-53396 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime. CVSS score: 7.1/10. Published 2026-07-19.
- How severe is CVE-2026-53396?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.1 out of 10.