In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb: client: fix potential deadlock when releasing mids All release_mid() callers seem to hold a reference of @mid so there is no need to call kref_put(&mid->refcount, __release_mid) under @server->mid_lock spinlock. If they don't, then an use-after-free bug would have occurred anyways. By getting rid of such spinlock also fixes a potential deadlock as shown below CPU 0 CPU 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------ cifs_demultiplex_thread() cifs_debug_data_proc_show() release_mid() spin_lock(&server->mid_lock); spin_lock(&cifs_tcp_ses_lock) spin_lock(&server->mid_lock) __release_mid() smb2_find_smb_tcon() spin_lock(&cifs_tcp_ses_lock) *deadlock*