CVE-2026-98454

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Server Message Block (SMB) client. A malicious SMB server can exploit this vulnerability by sending malformed create context responses to a connecting system. Because the client fails to properly validate record boundaries during response parsing, this issue can trigger out-of-bounds memory reads, leading to a Denial of Service (DoS) or unauthorized information disclosure.

This vulnerability is rated as Moderate severity for Red Hat Enterprise Linux because exploitation requires client-side interaction to initiate a connection to an untrusted or compromised SMB server. Systems are exposed only when explicitly mounting remote network shares using the kernel CIFS driver. Because the issue cannot be triggered remotely against passive systems and does not lead to privilege escalation or arbitrary code execution, the primary risk is limited to a client-side denial of service.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.