CVE-2026-89695 (GCVE-0-2026-89695)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2026-09-11 19:46
Modified
2026-10-19 08:51
Severity ?
7.5 (High) - CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: cap decoded POSIX ACL count to bound sort cost nfsd4_decode_posixacl() reads a u32 entry count off the wire and passes it straight to posix_acl_alloc() and sort_pacl_range(). The latter is an O(n^2) bubble sort, so a client-chosen count drives unbounded CPU in the server's compound processing path. nfsd4_decode_posixacl() xdr_stream_decode_u32(&count) /* uncapped u32 */ posix_acl_alloc(count, GFP_KERNEL) sort_pacl_range(*acl, 0, count - 1) /* O(n^2) bubble sort */ The encoder side in the same file already rejects ACLs whose a_count exceeds NFS_ACL_MAX_ENTRIES, but the decoder introduced in commit 5fc51dfc2eb1 ("NFSD: Add support for XDR decoding POSIX draft ACLs") omitted the symmetric check. Fix by rejecting a wire count greater than NFS_ACL_MAX_ENTRIES with nfserr_inval, before any allocation, so the sort is bounded by NFS_ACL_MAX_ENTRIES^2 comparisons. While we're in here, also fix the nfserr_resource return if posix_acl_alloc() fails. That's not a legal error code for v4.1+. Change it to return nfserr_jukebox as that's more appropriate for memory allocation failures.
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
Linux Linux Version: 5fc51dfc2eb160bd7ab3251ab1767cacf9c8bf05
Version: 5fc51dfc2eb160bd7ab3251ab1767cacf9c8bf05
 Create a notification for this product.
Show details on NVD website

To clipboard 

{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "fs/nfsd/nfs4xdr.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "ea14d71d6ecb925673761bcf79f781f7dc9042cc",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "5fc51dfc2eb160bd7ab3251ab1767cacf9c8bf05",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "4bc1108e876153a2dd6d874052b99182c3603135",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "5fc51dfc2eb160bd7ab3251ab1767cacf9c8bf05",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "fs/nfsd/nfs4xdr.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "7.0"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "7.0",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2.4",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.3",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
            {
              "cpeMatch": [
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "7.2.4",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "7.0",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "7.3",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "7.0",
                  "vulnerable": true
                }
              ],
              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnfsd: cap decoded POSIX ACL count to bound sort cost\n\nnfsd4_decode_posixacl() reads a u32 entry count off the wire and passes\nit straight to posix_acl_alloc() and sort_pacl_range(). The latter is\nan O(n^2) bubble sort, so a client-chosen count drives unbounded CPU in\nthe server\u0027s compound processing path.\n\n    nfsd4_decode_posixacl()\n      xdr_stream_decode_u32(\u0026count)       /* uncapped u32 */\n      posix_acl_alloc(count, GFP_KERNEL)\n      sort_pacl_range(*acl, 0, count - 1) /* O(n^2) bubble sort */\n\nThe encoder side in the same file already rejects ACLs whose a_count\nexceeds NFS_ACL_MAX_ENTRIES, but the decoder introduced in commit\n5fc51dfc2eb1 (\"NFSD: Add support for XDR decoding POSIX draft ACLs\")\nomitted the symmetric check.\n\nFix by rejecting a wire count greater than NFS_ACL_MAX_ENTRIES with\nnfserr_inval, before any allocation, so the sort is bounded by\nNFS_ACL_MAX_ENTRIES^2 comparisons.\n\nWhile we\u0027re in here, also fix the nfserr_resource return if\nposix_acl_alloc() fails. That\u0027s not a legal error code for v4.1+. Change\nit to return nfserr_jukebox as that\u0027s more appropriate for memory\nallocation failures."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 7.5,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          },
          "scenarios": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "AV:N - The flaw is in nfsd\u0027s NFSv4 XDR decoder (nfsd4_decode_posixacl in fs/nfsd/nfs4xdr.c), reached when a remote client sends COMPOUND SETATTR, CREATE, or OPEN with POSIX draft ACL fattrs over TCP/2049.\nAC:L - The attacker supplies the u32 ACL count and reverse-sorted ACE payload on the wire; decode then runs sort_pacl_range() deterministically with no race, victim state, or memory-layout dependency.\nPR:N - nfsd4_decode_posixacl() runs during COMPOUND XDR decode before SEQUENCE, filehandle, export, or setattr checks; under AUTH_SYS, the common NFS flavor, RPC credentials are attacker-asserted and no secret is verified.\nUI:N - nfsd worker threads decode and sort the attacker\u0027s COMPOUND automatically; no local user or administrator action is required.\nS:U - Impact stays inside the host kernel\u0027s nfsd thread pool; this is not a VM escape, IOMMU bypass, or other cross-authority boundary.\nC:N - The bug only burns CPU while sorting a temporary decoded POSIX ACL; it does not read kernel or file contents, and a failed posix_acl_alloc() returns an NFS error without leaking memory.\nI:N - sort_pacl_range() only reorders the attacker\u0027s own temporary ACL buffer, which is discarded on error; no kernel memory is corrupted and no on-disk ACL is applied without later authorization.\nA:H - A client-chosen ACE count, practically hundreds of thousands within the 4MiB RPC payload, drives an un-preempted O(n^2) bubble sort in an nfsd thread, stalling the finite nfsd pool so repeated requests fully deny NFS service."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-10-19T08:51:08.488Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ea14d71d6ecb925673761bcf79f781f7dc9042cc"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4bc1108e876153a2dd6d874052b99182c3603135"
        }
      ],
      "title": "nfsd: cap decoded POSIX ACL count to bound sort cost",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-89695",
    "datePublished": "2026-09-11T19:46:14.258Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-09-11T19:38:34.750Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-10-19T08:51:08.488Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}


Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.




Sightings

Author Source Type Date

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or seen somewhere by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability is confirmed from an analyst perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: This vulnerability was exploited and seen by the user reporting the sighting.
  • Patched: This vulnerability was successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
  • Not exploited: This vulnerability was not exploited or seen by the user reporting the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expresses doubt about the veracity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: This vulnerability was not successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.