nfsd: fix dead ACL conflict guard in nfsd4_create
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: fix dead ACL conflict guard in nfsd4_create nfsd4_create() steals create->cr_dpacl/cr_pacl into the local nfsd_attrs via the designated initializer, then immediately sets the source pointers to NULL. The subsequent conflict guard tests the already-nilled source fields, making it permanently dead code: if (create->cr_acl) { if (create->cr_dpacl || create->cr_pacl) /* always false */ When a client encodes both FATTR4_WORD0_ACL and FATTR4_WORD2_POSIX_{DEFAULT,ACCESS}_ACL in the same CREATE fattr bitmap, nfsd4_acl_to_attr() overwrites attrs.na_pacl/na_dpacl without releasing the originals, leaking two posix_acl slab objects per request. Repeated requests cause unbounded slab exhaustion. Fix by checking attrs.na_dpacl/na_pacl (the stolen values) instead of the nilled create->cr_dpacl/cr_pacl, matching the correct pattern already used in nfsd4_setattr().
02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE
Affected packages
03 / CONNECTIONS
Connected vulnerabilities
04 / EVIDENCE
Source records
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfsd: fix dead ACL conflict guard in nfsd4_create nfsd4_create() steals create->cr_dpacl/cr_pacl into the local nfsd_attrs via the designated initializer, then immediately sets the source pointers to NULL. The subsequent conflict guard tests the already-nilled source fields, making it permanently dead code: if (create->cr_acl) { if (create->cr_dpacl || create->cr_pacl) /* always false */ When a client encodes both FATTR4_WORD0_ACL and FATTR4_WORD2_POSIX_{DEFAULT,ACCESS}_ACL in the same CREATE fattr bitmap, nfsd4_acl_to_attr() overwrites attrs.na_pacl/na_dpacl without releasing the originals, leaking two posix_acl slab objects per request. Repeated requests cause unbounded slab exhaustion. Fix by checking attrs.na_dpacl/na_pacl (the stolen values) instead of the nilled create->cr_dpacl/cr_pacl, matching the correct pattern already used in nfsd4_setattr().
05 / REFERENCES
Further evidence
- https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8371cc5c0a2cc2a71b3dcfd47ff1f7fcfc526a5e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a60f25a800846ab8e5a13f8a9d05111f2aee55a7
- https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/53xxx/CVE-2026-53395.json
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53395