CVE-2026-97558

Name of the Vulnerable Software and Affected Versions Linux kernel (affected versions not specified)

Description A reference leak occurs in the SMB client during a deferred close operation. When cifs close() defers a close, it assigns the cifsFileInfo reference of the closing struct file to queued work, which is then dropped by smb2 deferred work close(). A race condition exists where deferred close scheduled can be false while work is still pending. If a subsequent cifs close() occurs during this interval, queue delayed work() may fail because the work is already pending, causing the function to return without dropping the file reference. This results in the cifsFileInfo count remaining pinned, leading to leaks of the tlink, dentry, and server handle.

Recommendations At the moment, there is no information about a newer version that contains a fix for this vulnerability.