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Table of contents
Symptom & Impact
SMB shares fail to mount with `mount error(126/13)` after auth stack updates.
Environment & Reproduction
Observed when CIFS uses sec=krb5 with stale keytabs or unsupported dialect options.
mount -t cifs //fileserver/share /mnt/share -o sec=krb5,cruid=$(id -u)
klist
rpm -q krb5-workstation cifs-utils
Root Cause Analysis
Kerberos ticket/keytab mismatch or SMB signing/dialect changes cause auth negotiation failure.
Quick Triage
Capture kernel and auth messages.
dmesg | tail -n 50
journalctl -n 80 --no-pager | grep -Ei 'cifs|krb5|gssapi'
getenforce
Step-by-Step Diagnosis
Validate keytab principal and mount options.
klist -k /etc/krb5.keytab
cat /etc/krb5.conf | head -n 80
modinfo cifs | head -n 20

Solution – Primary Fix
Refresh Kerberos credentials and use compatible CIFS options.
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kdestroy || true
kinit [email protected]
sudo mount -t cifs //fileserver/share /mnt/share -o sec=krb5,vers=3.1.1,cruid=$(id -u)

Solution – Alternative Approaches
Use machine keytab principal for service mounts and automount retries.
sudo kinit -k -t /etc/krb5.keytab host/$(hostname -f)
systemctl restart autofs
Verification & Acceptance Criteria
Mount succeeds and file operations complete under expected identity.
mount | grep cifs
ls /mnt/share
touch /mnt/share/.cifs_test && rm -f /mnt/share/.cifs_test
Rollback Plan
Revert to previous tested mount options if new flags break compatibility.
sudo umount /mnt/share
sudo mount -a
Prevention & Hardening
Pin validated cifs-utils versions in change windows and monitor Kerberos ticket renewal.
dnf versionlock add cifs-utils
klist
Related Errors & Cross-Refs
Related to DNS SPN mismatches, clock skew, and SMB signing policy changes on AD servers.
Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for oracle-linux-10.
View all oracle-linux-10 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →
Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.
References & Further Reading
RHEL CIFS and Kerberos integration documentation for secure enterprise file access.
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