CVE-2026-98778: binder: fix is_failure flag for superseded transaction cleanup

Severity: unknown
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: 2026-10-18 · updated 2026-10-30

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: binder: fix is_failure flag for superseded transaction cleanup When a TF_UPDATE_TXN transaction supersedes a pending async transaction, binder_release_entire_buffer() is called with is_failure=false. Since the superseded transaction was never delivered, binder_apply_fd_fixups() was never called and no fds were installed in the target process. With is_failure=false, the BINDER_TYPE_FDA cleanup handler interprets stale buffer contents as installed fd numbers and passes them to binder_deferred_fd_close(), closing unrelated file descriptors. Pass is_failure=true since the transaction was never delivered to the target, matching the semantics of all other undelivered-transaction cleanup paths.

Affected products

Linux: 6.0 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

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

References

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