CVE-2024-41012: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: filelock: Remove locks reliably when fcntl/close race is detected When fcntl

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: filelock: Remove locks reliably when fcntl/close race is detected When fcntl_setlk() races

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: filelock: Remove locks reliably when fcntl/close race is detected When fcntl_setlk() races with close(), it removes the created lock with do_lock_file_wait(). However, LSMs can allow the first do_lock_file_wait() that created the lock while denying the second do_lock_file_wait() that tries to remove the lock. Separately, posix_lock_file() could also fail to remove a lock due to GFP_KERNEL allocation failure (when splitting a range in the middle). After the bug has been triggered, use-after-free reads will occur in lock_get_status() when userspace reads /proc/locks. This can likely be used to read arbitrary kernel memory, but can't corrupt kernel memory. Fix it by calling locks_remove_posix() instead, which is designed to reliably get rid of POSIX locks associated with the given file and files_struct and is also used by filp_flush().

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.23%, higher than 13% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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