Severity by source
AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local privileged operator creating an nvme-fc controller (AV:L/PR:H), triggered only on a rare allocation failure (AC:H); double free yields a kernel crash (A:H) with no confidentiality/integrity impact.
Primary rating from Vendor (Linux).
CVSS VectorVendor: Linux
Lifecycle Timeline
7DescriptionCVE.org
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
nvme-fc: fix double free of fabrics options when nvme_add_ctrl() fails
nvmf_create_ctrl() owns the fabrics options and frees them whenever ->create_ctrl() returns an error, so a transport must not free them on its own error paths. nvme-fc tracks this by testing ctrl->ctrl.opts in nvme_fc_ctrl_free(), which requires nvme_fc_init_ctrl() to clear that pointer on every error exit.
The coupling is implicit, and commit 1a9e218195a5 ("nvme: split device add from initialization") broke it by adding a second error exit. When nvme_add_ctrl() fails, nvme_fc_init_ctrl() jumps to out_put_ctrl:, past the "ctrl->ctrl.opts = NULL" that only sits on the fail_ctrl: path, so nvme_fc_ctrl_free() frees the options and nvmf_create_ctrl() frees them a second time:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in nvmf_free_options+0x30/0x190 nvmf_free_options+0x30/0x190 drivers/nvme/host/fabrics.c:1284 nvmf_create_ctrl drivers/nvme/host/fabrics.c:1374 [inline] Freed by task 5534: nvme_fc_ctrl_free drivers/nvme/host/fc.c:2374 [inline] nvme_fc_init_ctrl+0xe17/0x1450 drivers/nvme/host/fc.c:3605
nvme_add_ctrl() fails when dev_set_name() cannot allocate, so this is reachable under memory pressure or fault injection. Without KASAN the options are freed twice.
Rather than clear the pointer on the second exit as well, derive ownership the way nvme-tcp, nvme-rdma and nvme-loop do, from list membership: their free_ctrl leaves the options alone unless the controller made it onto the transport list.
The list cannot simply be populated on the success path as it is there. nvme-fc runs the initial connect synchronously via flush_delayed_work(), and the controller has to be reachable on rport->ctrl_list for the whole of it: nvme_fc_unregister_remoteport() needs to find it to signal connectivity loss, nvme_fc_match_disconn_ls() matches an incoming Disconnect Association LS against ctrl->association_id, which is only assigned during that window, nvme_fc_resume_controller() needs it on remoteport re-registration, and nvme_fc_existing_controller() uses it to reject a duplicate connect racing the one in flight.
Keep the insertion where it is and add a fail_unlist: label, falling into fail_ctrl:, for the error paths that run after it. The earlier error paths never reach the insertion and keep using fail_ctrl: directly, so the list is only touched where the controller is actually on it.
nvme_fc_ctrl_free() cannot use the plain "goto free_ctrl" the other transports use, because it still has to put_device(), release the rport reference and free the ida entry for resources taken before the insertion. Sample list_empty() under rport->lock instead.
ctrl->ctrl.opts also stays valid for the whole teardown now. That is not the bug being fixed, but it removes some fragility around the old idiom: nvme_free_ctrl() calls nvme_auth_free() before ->free_ctrl(), and ctrl_max_dhchaps() dereferences ctrl->opts without a NULL check when ctrl->dhchap_ctxs is set, which nvme-fc permits since NVMF_ALLOWED_OPTS allows the dhchap options. The nvme sysfs attributes that dereference ctrl->opts, such as hostnqn and address, evaluate their is_visible() test once at device_add() time and stay readable until cdev_device_del().
AnalysisAI
Double free in the Linux kernel's NVMe-over-Fabrics Fibre Channel (nvme-fc) transport lets a privileged local user corrupt kernel memory when an nvme-fc controller creation attempt fails. The bug lives on an error path: nvme_fc_init_ctrl() jumps to out_put_ctrl: when nvme_add_ctrl() fails (reached when dev_set_name() cannot allocate memory), bypassing the pointer clear that nvme_fc_ctrl_free() relies on, so the transport frees the fabrics options and nvmf_create_ctrl() frees them a second time - KASAN reports a slab-use-after-free in nvmf_free_options(). …
Unlock full vulnerability intelligence
- Risk assessment & exploitation conditions
- Attack chain visualization
- Remediation with exact patch versions
- Threat intelligence from 22 sources
- Personal watchlist & email alerts
Free forever · No credit card required
Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata
Vulnerability AssessmentAI
| Exploitation | Requires the host to use the NVMe-over-Fabrics Fibre Channel transport (nvme-fc) and an attempt to create/connect an nvme-fc controller - an action requiring root/CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileges. … Additional conditions and limiting factors are described in the full assessment. |
| Risk Assessment | This is a CWE-415 double free of the fabrics options structure in the nvme-fc transport, triggered when nvme_add_ctrl() fails (specifically when dev_set_name() cannot allocate memory). … Full risk analysis with EPSS, KEV, and SSVC signal comparison available after sign-in. |
| Exploit Scenario | Full exploit scenario with step-by-step reproduction available after sign-in. |
| Remediation | Vendor-released patches are available: upgrade to Linux 6.12.110, 6.18.51, 7.2.5 or 7.3-rc2 (or later), or apply the upstream stable commits 8bd14aa065112b4d523bea690027c7527a6224f6, 7df913a7ced5d7349f0b23bdcf25ad54fe83a1c1, 5f89d68c00ccd1b25151da0bf660012380c2bad9 and 56e6279266f6962bb2d38a54397e3c605165b0c5 from https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8bd14aa065112b4d523bea690027c7527a6224f6 and the linked commits; the vendor/NVD entry is at https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-89974. … Detailed patch versions, workarounds, and compensating controls in full report. |
Recommended ActionAI
Within 24 hours, inventory all Linux servers running kernel version 6.11 or later and determine which have the non-default nvme-fc transport module loaded or in use, flagging any systems where local root or CAP_SYS_ADMIN access is broadly provisioned as these are the primary attack surfaces. …
Sign in for detailed remediation steps and compensating controls.
Threat intelligence, references, and detailed analysis are available after sign-in.
Same technique Denial Of Service
View allShare
External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-80574
GHSA-6hqx-63gq-9x2p