CVE-2026-98831

Status: ReceivedUnscored—

Severity—Unscored

Exploitation probability0.17 %higher than 6% of CVEs

Active exploitationNonot in the CISA catalog

Public exploitNot knownno public code found

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

of/overlay: don't leak fragment references when changeset init fails

init_overlay_changeset() stores the number of initialized fragments in ovcs->count only on full success. When find_target() or the __symbols__ lookup fails partway through, the target and overlay references taken for the fragments initialized so far are never dropped: free_overlay_changeset() bounds its cleanup loop by ovcs->count, which is still 0.

Store the running count on the error path so free_overlay_changeset() puts whatever was set up.

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The store is guarded by ovcs->fragments because on the allocation-failure path cnt still holds the counting pass total while there is no fragments array; everywhere else cnt only counts fully-initialized fragments.

CVSS

NVD hasn't assigned a CVSS score to this CVE (common since the April 2026 policy change).

Exploitation probability (EPSS)

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.17 %
Percentile among all scored CVEs: 6
Score date: 10/20/2026

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST) estimates how likely a vulnerability is to be exploited in the wild within 30 days. It complements CVSS (impact) and CISA KEV (confirmed exploitation).

Affected technologies (1)

⚠ AI-inferred from the description — NVD hasn't analyzed this CVE yet, these aren't verified CPEs.

Linux — Linux Kernel^AI

References

Show 4 references

Raw JSON (NVD)

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{
  "id": "CVE-2026-98831",
  "cveTags": [],
  "metrics": {},
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "product": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1",
              "lessThan": "894573e2fdaeb1b15030b7eebc22615edf28a6cd",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1",
              "lessThan": "7a46f1917b320cc8762183b802301da02a191b6a",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1",
              "lessThan": "3a23fb158ba517b77a2e5258263bdfdaa480f758",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "61b4de4e0b384f4a22c55c3bada604da49cec4e1",
              "lessThan": "1d62f0f2bc7edb12ed09f71203df0e47fa4efca4",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ],
          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/of/overlay.c"
          ],
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected"
        },
        {
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "product": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "4.15"
            },
            {
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "lessThan": "4.15",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.12.113",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*"
            },
            {
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.18.56",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*"
            },
            {
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2.10",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*"
            },
            {
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.3",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix",
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*"
            }
          ],
          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/of/overlay.c"
          ],
          "defaultStatus": "affected"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "published": "2026-10-18T16:17:37.347",
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1d62f0f2bc7edb12ed09f71203df0e47fa4efca4",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3a23fb158ba517b77a2e5258263bdfdaa480f758",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7a46f1917b320cc8762183b802301da02a191b6a",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/894573e2fdaeb1b15030b7eebc22615edf28a6cd",
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    }
  ],
  "vulnStatus": "Received",
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nof/overlay: don't leak fragment references when changeset init fails\n\ninit_overlay_changeset() stores the number of initialized fragments\nin ovcs->count only on full success. When find_target() or the\n__symbols__ lookup fails partway through, the target and overlay\nreferences taken for the fragments initialized so far are never\ndropped: free_overlay_changeset() bounds its cleanup loop by\novcs->count, which is still 0.\n\nStore the running count on the error path so free_overlay_changeset()\nputs whatever was set up. The store is guarded by ovcs->fragments\nbecause on the allocation-failure path cnt still holds the counting\npass total while there is no fragments array; everywhere else cnt\nonly counts fully-initialized fragments."
    }
  ],
  "lastModified": "2026-10-19T10:19:47.140",
  "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
}