Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessLure victim to malicious SMB server
-
DeliveryClient mounts share and enumerates snapshots
-
ExploitServer returns undersized FSCTL reply
-
ExecutionOOB copy_to_user reads past slab buffer
-
ImpactKernel slab memory leaked to userspace
Vulnerability Assessment
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires the victim's Linux host to act as an SMB/CIFS client against an attacker-controlled or compromised SMB3 server AND to actively invoke snapshot enumeration (the smb3_enum_snapshots path / FSCTL_SRV_ENUMERATE_SNAPSHOTS ioctl on the cifs.ko client). The trigger condition is a malicious server returning a reply whose server-supplied OutputCount is smaller than sizeof(struct smb_snapshot_array) (12 bytes / GMT_TOKEN_SIZE), so retbuf is allocated short and ret_data_len exceeds it. LIMITING FACTORS: this is not reachable against default idle clients - it needs (1) an outbound SMB connection the attacker controls, and (2) a user or application that requests snapshots, which is UI:R in the vector; it only affects kernels with the vulnerable cifs client code prior to the fixed stable releases. It is not exploitable by a remote party who cannot get the victim to connect to their server. |
| Impact | This is a genuinely moderate, not high, real-world priority. The input CVSS of 7.1 is driven largely by A:H (High availability impact), which is questionable for what the description actually characterizes: an out-of-bounds *read* in the SMB3 client (smb3_enum_snapshots) that leaks adjacent slab memory to userspace - a confidentiality/information-disclosure issue, not a crash or DoS primitive. The signals are mutually consistent on low urgency: EPSS is 0.21% (11th percentile), there is no CISA KEV listing, and no public exploit code is referenced. The CVSS vector itself tempers the AV:N 'network' label with UI:R, meaning exploitation is not a passive remote attack - it requires the victim's Linux client to connect to an attacker-controlled or compromised SMB server and actively perform snapshot enumeration. CONFLICT TO VERIFY: the vector claims A:H, but the described mechanism (copy_to_user reading past a slab buffer) is an information leak with limited confidentiality impact (C:L) and no obvious availability consequence, since slab memory is mapped and unlikely to fault - the official A:H appears overstated relative to the description. Bottom line: a real bug worth patching on the normal kernel-update cadence, but not an emergency; exploitation is server-side-malicious and client-interaction-dependent rather than widespread or wormable. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker stands up a malicious SMB server (or compromises one the victim already trusts) and waits for or lures a Linux client into mounting the share and requesting filesystem snapshots. The server replies to the snapshot-enumeration FSCTL with an undersized OutputCount (smaller than the 12-byte GMT_TOKEN_SIZE/struct), causing the client's copy_to_user to read past the allocated reply buffer and return adjacent kernel slab memory to the requesting user. No public exploit code is referenced at the time of analysis. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 07, 2026
Kernel slab memory disclosure in the Linux kernel's SMB/CIFS client (cifs.ko) occurs when a malicious or compromised SMB3 server returns a short reply to a snapshot-enumeration ioctl (FSCTL_SRV_ENUMERATE_SNAPSHOTS), causing smb3_enum_snapshots() to set ret_data_len to sizeof(struct smb_snapshot_array) (12 bytes) without validating the server's actual reply length; the subsequent copy_to_user() then reads past the end of the server-sized retbuf and exposes adjacent kernel heap contents to the requesting user-space process. Only Linux systems acting as SMB clients are affected, and exploitation requires the victim to connect outbound to the attacker-controlled server and actively trigger snapshot enumeration (UI:R) while running a kernel with the vulnerable cifs client code, so unauthenticated remote attackers cannot reach an idle host. There is no public proof-of-concept and no evidence of active exploitation at time of analysis; EPSS is 0.21% (11th percentile), and patches are available in stable releases 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.54, 7.2.8 and 7.3-rc4.
RemediationAI
Apply the vendor-released kernel patches: upgrade to Linux 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.54, 7.2.8 or 7.3-rc4 (or the equivalent stable branch carrying the referenced commits, e.g. 15a221c7, 74995ee8, 210f0f1f, 1cdf0d30, dbe452a9 and 4775c3b7 at git.kernel.org), since no user-space fix exists and the defect is in cifs.ko itself. If immediate patching is not possible, compensating controls are necessarily blunt: do not mount or auto-mount SMB shares from untrusted or attacker-controllable servers, and block outbound SMB traffic (TCP 445 and legacy 139, including via SMB proxy/NAT egress rules) so a client cannot be steered to a hostile server - the trade-off being loss of legitimate remote file access and administrative friction for existing mounts. On hosts that never use CIFS, disabling the module (modprobe.blacklist=cifs or rmmod cifs) eliminates the attack surface at the cost of any SMB-based services, and where snapshot enumeration is required, ensure that no application or user triggers the FSCTL_SRV_ENUMERATE_SNAPSHOTS path against non-trusted servers, since the trigger is user- or application-initiated. Restricting mounts to hardened, authenticated SMB3 servers with signing and encryption reduces the chance of a malicious server reply but does not remove the parsing flaw, so kernel patching remains the only complete fix. Advisory references: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98169 and https://vuldb.com/vuln/414096.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
The flaw lives in the kernel's SMB2/3 client implementation (the cifs.ko module, tracked as cpe:2.3:a:linux:linux), specifically in smb3_enum_snapshots(), which handles the FSCTL_SRV_ENUMERATE_SNAPSHOTS control as defined by MS-SMB2 3.3.5.15.1. The SMB2_ioctl() helper trusts the server-supplied OutputCount with no lower bound and allocates the response buffer (retbuf) to exactly that length; when the reply is shorter than the expected snapshot-array structure, smb3_enum_snapshots() nonetheless reports ret_data_len as sizeof(struct smb_snapshot_array) rather than the true reply size. The out-of-bounds read occurs in the following copy_to_user(), which walks 12 bytes out of a buffer that may be smaller, disclosing adjacent slab memory to user space. The existing clamp is ineffective because it only shrinks ret_data_len after the fact. Root-cause class is an out-of-bounds read (CWE-125) driven by unvalidated external input length; the fix rejects any reply shorter than the 12-byte struct size with -EIO, deliberately using 12 bytes (the exact copy_to_user() read size) rather than the 16-byte MIN_SNAPSHOT_ARRAY_SIZE from the specification. Note that the vendor-published vector (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H, 7.1) asserts a high availability impact, whereas this assessment limits the impact to low confidentiality loss with no availability impact, since the defect is a bounded read of adjacent memory rather than a corruption or crash primitive.
Know when the next one hits your stack
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
Malicious SMB server reachable over network (AV:N) with no attacker privileges but required victim snapshot-enumeration action (UI:R); impact is a limited slab info leak (C:L), with no integrity or availability effect, so I diverge from the input A:H.
Primary rating from Vendor (Linux).
CVSS VectorVendor: Linux
Lifecycle Timeline
4DescriptionCVE.org
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
smb: client: fix potential OOB read in smb3_enum_snapshots()
If snapshot_array_size is smaller than GMT_TOKEN_SIZE, smb3_enum_snapshots() sets ret_data_len to sizeof(struct smb_snapshot_array) without verifying the actual length of the server's reply.
Because SMB2_ioctl() places no lower bound on the server-supplied OutputCount and allocates retbuf to exactly that length, a short reply results in ret_data_len exceeding the size of retbuf. The subsequent copy_to_user() then reads past the end of retbuf, leaking adjacent slab memory to userspace. The subsequent clamp check is ineffective as it only reduces ret_data_len.
Fix this by rejecting replies shorter than sizeof(struct smb_snapshot_array) with -EIO. Note that the bound is set to the 12-byte struct size rather than the 16-byte MIN_SNAPSHOT_ARRAY_SIZE defined in MS-SMB2 3.3.5.15.1, because 12 bytes is exactly what copy_to_user() attempts to read.
Executive ViewAI
The Linux kernel's SMB/CIFS client (cifs.ko) can disclose adjacent kernel heap memory to a local user-space process when that client connects to a malicious or compromised SMB3 server and snapshot enumeration is triggered. This affects Linux systems configured as SMB clients, particularly user workstations or jump hosts that access file shares outside the organization's trust boundary; leadership should care because exposed kernel memory may contain sensitive data, though exploitation requires user interaction and no public exploit identified at time of analysis. A vendor patch is available per advisory, so remediation should focus on inventory and timely kernel updates for affected SMB client systems.
Apply vendor patch.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
EUVD-2026-93097
GHSA-2c6m-5vjc-xqc6
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
VulDB
Exploit-DB