FreeBSD VuXML: Documenting security issues in FreeBSD and the FreeBSD Ports Collection

FreeBSD -- Jail escape by a privileged user via nullfs

Affected packages
14.3 <= FreeBSD-kernel < 14.3_8
13.5 <= FreeBSD-kernel < 13.5_9

Details

VuXML ID 90071333-fbe5-11f0-a13f-bc241121aa0a
Discovery 2026-01-27
Entry 2026-01-28

Problem Description:

By default, jailed processes cannot mount filesystems, including nullfs(4). However, the allow.mount.nullfs option enables mounting nullfs filesystems, subject to privilege checks.

If a privileged user within a jail is able to nullfs-mount directories, a limitation of the kernel's path lookup logic allows that user to escape the jail's chroot, yielding access to the full filesystem of the host or parent jail.

Impact:

In a jail configured to allow nullfs(4) mounts from within the jail, the jailed root user can escape the jail's filesystem root.

References

CVE Name CVE-2025-15547
FreeBSD Advisory SA-26:02.jail