CVE-2026-98420 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2026-98420
Vulnerability Scoring

Analysis In Progress

Attack Complexity Details

Attack Complexity:
Attack Complexity Analysis In Progress
Attack Vector:
Attack Vector Under Analysis
Privileges Required: None
No authentication is required for exploitation.
Scope:
Impact is confined to the initially vulnerable component.
User Interaction: None
No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2026-98420 Details

Status: Received on 14 Oct 2026, 14:17 UTC

Published on: 14 Oct 2026, 14:17 UTC

CVSS Release:

CVE-2026-98420 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2026-98420: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: follow SMB2 session expiration semantics ksmbd_session_register() destroys valid sessions after ten seconds of inactivity whenever a client starts another SessionSetup exchange. This confuses Session.IdleTime with Session.ExpirationTime. Windows can create additional authenticated sessions on an existing connection, so deleting the older session invalidates its tree connects and makes mapped drives fail with STATUS_NETWORK_NAME_DELETED. The session expiration rules require the server to change a valid session to expired only after its credential expiration time passes. A valid or expired session otherwise keeps its connection from being scavenged. Connections that have not negotiated a dialect, have no sessions, or have only InProgress sessions are disconnected after an implementation-specific timeout. Use the Windows-compatible 45 second value and run the expiration check periodically for both TCP and SMB Direct. Keep zero as an infinite credential expiration time, and count each Valid-to-Expired transition. Set expired sessions to InProgress when they reauthenticate. If authentication fails, remove the session from the global and per-connection tables immediately, including SMB3 multichannel connections. Retain protection against abandoned SessionId-zero exchanges by allowing only one InProgress authentication per connection. Additional exchanges fail with STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES, and stale InProgress sessions are reaped after the same 45 second setup timeout. This bounds the original unauthenticated memory-exhaustion path without evicting established sessions.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2026-98420

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2026-98420 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2026-98420

No exploitability data is available for CVE-2026-98420.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2026-98420, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2026-98420, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

Confidentiality: None
CVE-2026-98420 does not compromise confidentiality.
Integrity: None
CVE-2026-98420 does not impact data integrity.
Availability: None
CVE-2026-98420 does not affect system availability.

CVE-2026-98420 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

Unknown

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