CVE-2026-89668: nfsd: move nfsd_debugfs_init() after nfsd4_init_slabs() in init_nfsd()

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: 2026-09-11 · updated 2026-10-19

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: move nfsd_debugfs_init() after nfsd4_init_slabs() in init_nfsd() nfsd_debugfs_init() runs before nfsd4_init_slabs() in init_nfsd(). If the slab allocation fails, the bare "return retval" bypasses nfsd_debugfs_exit(), leaving orphan debugfs files with stale fops pointers into the freed module text. Move nfsd_debugfs_init() to after the slab init succeeds, so the early return has no debugfs state to clean up. Since debugfs is now the more recently initialized of the two, also update the unwind paths to match reverse-initialization (LIFO) order: run nfsd_debugfs_exit() before nfsd4_free_slabs() in both the init_nfsd() error path and exit_nfsd(). The nfsd debugfs files only reference module-global state and have no dependency on the slab caches, so that reordering is a cleanup with no functional change.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 6.16 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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