---
id: CVE-2026-97558
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  smb: client: fix cifsFileInfo reference leak in deferred close

  When cifs_close() defers a close, it hands the cifsFileInfo reference
  of the closing struct file to the …
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  smb: client: fix cifsFileInfo reference leak in deferred close

  When cifs_close() defers a close, it hands the cifsFileInfo reference
  of the closing struct file to the …
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= c3f207ab29f793b8c942ce8067ed123f18d5b81b <
    ea93759d6c2789924f4e557aed5be532207715ea
  - >-
    Linux >= c3f207ab29f793b8c942ce8067ed123f18d5b81b <
    5520e89a5a4f834bced64cf2ac927001cc513a40
  - Linux 5.13
published: '2026-09-25'
updated: '2026-09-25'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-25T15:17:59.080'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97558'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5520e89a5a4f834bced64cf2ac927001cc513a40'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a6767712902beb0f53238be485971c9a83ea1079'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ea93759d6c2789924f4e557aed5be532207715ea'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-09-25T11:06:38.916Z'
---

## Overview

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

smb: client: fix cifsFileInfo reference leak in deferred close

When cifs_close() defers a close, it hands the cifsFileInfo reference
of the closing struct file to the queued work. Each execution of
smb2_deferred_work_close() drops one such reference.

deferred_close_scheduled can be false while the work is pending: the
workqueue clears PENDING when the callback starts to run, before the
callback clears the flag under deferred_lock. A close in that
interval requeues the running work, and the callback then clears the
flag, leaving the requeued work pending with the flag down. A later
cifs_open() can reuse the handle and its cifs_close() reaches the
same branch: queue_delayed_work() fails because the work is still
pending, but cifs_close() returns without dropping the closing file's
reference. The cifsFileInfo count stays pinned and its tlink, dentry
and server handle are leaked.

Check the return value and hand off the reference only when work was
actually queued. Otherwise, use the shared _cifsFileInfo_put(), like
the mod_delayed_work() branch above: the pending execution already
owns its reference.

This issue was found by an in-house static analysis tool.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.