CVE-2026-98388 is a vulnerability in Linux Kernel
Published on October 14, 2026
exec: do_close_on_exec() before taking exec_update_lock
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
exec: do_close_on_exec() before taking exec_update_lock
do_close_on_exec() currently happens while holding the exec_update_lock,
which is used in a lot of places that access process state to
synchronize access checks.
I recently added another such use of exec_update_lock, causing a
regression.
do_close_on_exec() can block waiting for a reply from a filesystem.
That means a hung filesystem can block codepaths that use
exec_update_lock; and it also means that a FUSE filesystem which
attempts to inspect the calling process can deadlock.
To avoid such problems, move do_close_on_exec() before the
exec_update_lock is taken, but after the FD table has been copied if
necessary.
I have looked through all the calls between the old and new position of
the do_close_on_exec() call; there seems to be no file descriptor table
access in between.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-98388
Want to know whenever a new CVE is published for Linux Kernel? stack.watch will email you.
Affected Versions
Linux:- Version ae1e630bcaac739f625822078edbaea98366930d and below 955973fff4a36d39a848b00cac1706863f568fe1 is affected.
- Version d54f14655fd7d7b293698a8b6918563c4c0465e7 and below 550feab5b01000ab314868b62211fb3ddfd600e8 is affected.
- Version bb43679356f1f2a4c6b1c88aec4f021e5b5c74e9 and below 5aacc19ba2b1faf84c4a2f2cf9a1784e03d1ff38 is affected.
- Version 7456ae990a9738962b33146916fabca62ae3d4e0 and below 3feb4020bfb7ccf0d347f27051639d25e19cd65d is affected.
- Version 4bfe8c481846cee52473a2f7d7b30ee8e6749fc4 and below 0d86cd6b709c39216e6ee5ea8f0fc4242bbb2b53 is affected.
- Version f9b4b03ccc9c69bf7f7298d4559906ebea7143b3 and below 19ddef61ee0a49782a60f8f497e50597ad5de2da is affected.
- Version 6650527444dadc63d84aa939d14ecba4fadb2f69 and below 63be3d8511bdafa095cd14a393cbf3c58dbbb928 is affected.
- Version 6650527444dadc63d84aa939d14ecba4fadb2f69 and below e780259b54e618ceb4763fbc21314acf3565e813 is affected.
- Version c1cfd63326f5d09999134e9052c353faf738286e is affected.
- Version 5.10.261 and below 5.10.271 is affected.
- Version 5.15.212 and below 5.15.222 is affected.
- Version 6.1.178 and below 6.1.189 is affected.
- Version 6.6.145 and below 6.6.158 is affected.
- Version 6.12.97 and below 6.12.111 is affected.
- Version 6.18.40 and below 6.18.53 is affected.
- Version 7.1.4 and below 7.2 is affected.
- Version 7.2 is affected.
- Before 7.2 is unaffected.
- Version 5.10.271, <= 5.10.* is unaffected.
- Version 5.15.222, <= 5.15.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.1.189, <= 6.1.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.6.158, <= 6.6.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.12.111, <= 6.12.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.18.53, <= 6.18.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.2.7, <= 7.2.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.3-rc3, <= * is unaffected.