Regression: cifs kernel module missing from linux-modules

[Malcolm Scott]

In 22.04 with the HWE kernel, the CIFS/SMB client kernel modules (cifs.ko and related ones) have been removed from linux-modules and are now in linux-modules-extra, between 6.2.0-35 and 6.2.0-36:

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS
Release: 22.04
Codename: jammy
$ dpkg -S cifs.ko
linux-modules-6.2.0-35-generic: /lib/modules/6.2.0-35-generic/kernel/fs/cifs/cifs.ko
linux-modules-extra-6.2.0-36-generic: /lib/modules/6.2.0-36-generic/kernel/fs/smb/client/cifs.ko
linux-modules-extra-6.2.0-37-generic: /lib/modules/6.2.0-37-generic/kernel/fs/smb/client/cifs.ko

As a result (for example), a VM with the linux-image-virtual-hwe-22.04 can no longer mount CIFS filesystems unless I switch to the full-fat linux-image-generic-hwe-22.04 kernel, which brings in several large dependencies unnecessary on a VM (firmware packages, microcode packages, thermald, upower, wireless-regdb...).

Was cifs.ko removed from the base kernel packages deliberately? I consider this a regression.