High · published September 12, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
nfsd: release path refs on follow_down() error
nfsd_cross_mnt() initializes a local struct path with mntget() and
dget() before calling follow_down(). On a negative return the error
arm jumps to out without releasing those references:
err = follow_down(&path, follow_flags);
if (err < 0)
goto out;
follow_down() never drops the caller's entry-time refs on any error
sub-case; for example a pre-cross d_manage() failure leaves path
untouched, so the mntget()/dget() taken on entry survive the call.
Every other early-exit arm in nfsd_cross_mnt() (other-namespace
return, IS_ERR(exp2), and the success tail after the swap) already
calls path_put(&path); the err < 0 arm is the lone omission. The
leak inflates mnt_count and d_count on each failed cross-mount,
blocking umount and pinning dentries against the shrinker, and is
reachable by any authenticated NFS client through nfsd_lookup_dentry
or the NFSv4 READDIR encode path.
Fix by calling path_put(&path) before the goto out in the err < 0
arm so the entry-time refs are released on all follow_down() error
returns.