High · published September 12, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
smack: fix cred UAF in smack_file_send_sigiotask()
When inspecting the credentials of another task, objective credentials
(->real_cred, accessed with __task_cred()) must always be used.
Accessing ->cred on a non-current task is forbidden unless that task is
being created or destroyed; a task is allowed to change its own ->cred
pointer with no synchronization, and changing ->cred should only affect the
current syscall.
smack_file_send_sigiotask() was accessing both sets of credentials: First
tsk->cred, then __task_cred(tsk).
Fix it, always access the objective credentials here.
I have tested that this bug can lead to a KASAN-reported UAF of struct cred
in smack_file_send_sigiotask(), and that this fix prevents the race.