CVE-2025-39717: open_tree_attr: do not allow id-mapping changes without OPEN_TREE_CLONE

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-09-05 · updated 2026-10-19
Weakness: CWE-416

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: open_tree_attr: do not allow id-mapping changes without OPEN_TREE_CLONE As described in commit 7a54947e727b ('Merge patch series "fs: allow changing idmappings"'), open_tree_attr(2) was necessary in order to allow for a detached mount to be created and have its idmappings changed without the risk of any racing threads operating on it. For this reason, mount_setattr(2) still does not allow for id-mappings to be changed. However, there was a bug in commit 2462651ffa76 ("fs: allow changing idmappings") which allowed users to bypass this restriction by calling open_tree_attr(2) *without* OPEN_TREE_CLONE. can_idmap_mount() prevented this bug from allowing an attached mountpoint's id-mapping from being modified (thanks to an is_anon_ns() check), but this still allows for detached (but visible) mounts to have their be id-mapping changed. This risks the same UAF and locking issues as described in the merge commit, and was likely unintentional.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.15 before 6.16.4; 6.17-rc1, 6.17-rc2 — fixed in 6.16.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.16.4. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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