{"id":"CVE-2026-72377","state":"PUBLISHED","title":"afs: Remove setting of AS_RELEASE_ALWAYS for symlinks and mountpoints","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nafs: Remove setting of AS_RELEASE_ALWAYS for symlinks and mountpoints\n\nRegular AFS files correctly use afs_file_aops which have release_folio\nset as netfs_release_folio, so AS_RELEASE_ALWAYS is valid for them\nwhen fscache is enabled (set via afs_vnode_set_cache()).\nSymlinks and mountpoints in AFS use afs_dir_aops, which does not provide\na release_folio callback. However, afs_apply_status() unconditionally\ncalls mapping_set_release_always() for these.\n\nIn such case when memory management code attempts to release folios,\nfilemap_release_folio() checks folio_needs_release() which\nreturns true due to AS_RELEASE_ALWAYS being set. Since there is no\nrelease_folio callback, it falls through to try_to_free_buffers(),\nwhich at present expects buffer_heads to be not null. For symlinks\nand mountpoints without buffer_heads, this causes pointer dereference.\n\n[dh: Added more bits that were missed]","publishedAt":"2026-08-15T05:56:11.017Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-17T05:13:29.683Z","severity":null,"assigner":"Linux","products":["Linux Linux"],"affected":[{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"eae9e78951bb02a7b94a9adef6e981413d13c564","status":"affected","lessThan":"9d6b0f6d437e2f8350e08678e5e1d20c11c364f3","versionType":"git"},{"version":"eae9e78951bb02a7b94a9adef6e981413d13c564","status":"affected","lessThan":"81e985b4c3a6cbcc443fcdcd3ebda7fcc845d459","versionType":"git"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/afs/inode.c","fs/afs/internal.h"]},{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"affected","versions":[{"version":"6.14","status":"affected"},{"version":"0","status":"unaffected","lessThan":"6.14","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.1.5","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"7.1.*","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.2","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"*","versionType":"original_commit_for_fix"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/afs/inode.c","fs/afs/internal.h"]}],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9d6b0f6d437e2f8350e08678e5e1d20c11c364f3","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/81e985b4c3a6cbcc443fcdcd3ebda7fcc845d459"],"weaknesses":[],"ingestedAt":"2026-10-29T20:12:58.252Z","source":{"repository":"CVEProject/cvelistV5","path":"cves/2026/72xxx/CVE-2026-72377.json","commit":"556c9d3a8cd17e218bb8e452ba7cd619a384ff47"},"raw":{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2026-72377","state":"PUBLISHED","datePublished":"2026-08-15T05:56:11.017Z","dateUpdated":"2026-08-17T05:13:29.683Z","assignerShortName":"Linux","assignerOrgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","dateReserved":"2026-08-09T03:40:39.922Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"title":"afs: Remove setting of AS_RELEASE_ALWAYS for symlinks and mountpoints","descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nafs: Remove setting of AS_RELEASE_ALWAYS for symlinks and mountpoints\n\nRegular AFS files correctly use afs_file_aops which have release_folio\nset as netfs_release_folio, so AS_RELEASE_ALWAYS is valid for them\nwhen fscache is enabled (set via afs_vnode_set_cache()).\nSymlinks and mountpoints in AFS use afs_dir_aops, which does not provide\na release_folio callback. However, afs_apply_status() unconditionally\ncalls mapping_set_release_always() for these.\n\nIn such case when memory management code attempts to release folios,\nfilemap_release_folio() checks folio_needs_release() which\nreturns true due to AS_RELEASE_ALWAYS being set. Since there is no\nrelease_folio callback, it falls through to try_to_free_buffers(),\nwhich at present expects buffer_heads to be not null. For symlinks\nand mountpoints without buffer_heads, this causes pointer dereference.\n\n[dh: Added more bits that were missed]"}],"affected":[{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"eae9e78951bb02a7b94a9adef6e981413d13c564","status":"affected","lessThan":"9d6b0f6d437e2f8350e08678e5e1d20c11c364f3","versionType":"git"},{"version":"eae9e78951bb02a7b94a9adef6e981413d13c564","status":"affected","lessThan":"81e985b4c3a6cbcc443fcdcd3ebda7fcc845d459","versionType":"git"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/afs/inode.c","fs/afs/internal.h"]},{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"affected","versions":[{"version":"6.14","status":"affected"},{"version":"0","status":"unaffected","lessThan":"6.14","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.1.5","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"7.1.*","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.2","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"*","versionType":"original_commit_for_fix"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/afs/inode.c","fs/afs/internal.h"]}],"references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9d6b0f6d437e2f8350e08678e5e1d20c11c364f3"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/81e985b4c3a6cbcc443fcdcd3ebda7fcc845d459"}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"Linux","orgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","dateUpdated":"2026-08-17T05:13:29.683Z"},"cpeApplicability":[{"nodes":[{"operator":"OR","negate":false,"cpeMatch":[{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"6.14","versionEndExcluding":"7.1.5"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"6.14","versionEndExcluding":"7.2"}]}]}],"x_generator":{"engine":"bippy-1.2.0"}}}}}