kernel/linux.git/fs/eventpoll.c, branch v6.18.33

eventpoll: fix ep_remove struct eventpoll / struct file UAF

2026-05-23T11:07:05+00:00

[ Upstream commit a6dc643c69311677c574a0f17a3f4d66a5f3744b ] ep_remove() (via ep_remove_file()) cleared file->f_ep under file->f_lock but then kept using @file inside the critical section (is_file_epoll(), hlist_del_rcu() through the head, spin_unlock). A concurrent __fput() taking the eventpoll_release() fastpath in that window observed the transient NULL, skipped eventpoll_release_file() and ran to f_op->release / file_free(). For the epoll-watches-epoll case, f_op->release is ep_eventpoll_release() -> ep_clear_and_put() -> ep_free(), which kfree()s the watched struct eventpoll. Its embedded ->refs hlist_head is exactly where epi->fllink.pprev points, so the subsequent hlist_del_rcu()'s "*pprev = next" scribbles into freed kmalloc-192 memory. In addition, struct file is SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU, so the slot backing @file could be recycled by alloc_empty_file() -- reinitializing f_lock and f_ep -- while ep_remove() is still nominally inside that lock. The upshot is an attacker-controllable kmem_cache_free() against the wrong slab cache. Pin @file via epi_fget() at the top of ep_remove() and gate the critical section on the pin succeeding. With the pin held @file cannot reach refcount zero, which holds __fput() off and transitively keeps the watched struct eventpoll alive across the hlist_del_rcu() and the f_lock use, closing both UAFs. If the pin fails @file has already reached refcount zero and its __fput() is in flight. Because we bailed before clearing f_ep, that path takes the eventpoll_release() slow path into eventpoll_release_file() and blocks on ep->mtx until the waiter side's ep_clear_and_put() drops it. The bailed epi's share of ep->refcount stays intact, so the trailing ep_refcount_dec_and_test() in ep_clear_and_put() cannot free the eventpoll out from under eventpoll_release_file(); the orphaned epi is then cleaned up there. A successful pin also proves we are not racing eventpoll_release_file() on this epi, so drop the now-redundant re-check of epi->dying under f_lock. The cheap lockless READ_ONCE(epi->dying) fast-path bailout stays. Fixes: 58c9b016e128 ("epoll: use refcount to reduce ep_mutex contention") Reported-by: Jaeyoung Chung Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260423-work-epoll-uaf-v1-6-2470f9eec0f5@kernel.org Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin

eventpoll: move epi_fget() up

2026-05-23T11:07:05+00:00

[ Upstream commit 86e87059e6d1fd5115a31949726450ed03c1073b ] We'll need it when removing files so move it up. No functional change. Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260423-work-epoll-uaf-v1-5-2470f9eec0f5@kernel.org Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) Stable-dep-of: a6dc643c6931 ("eventpoll: fix ep_remove struct eventpoll / struct file UAF") Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin

eventpoll: drop vestigial __ prefix from ep_remove_{file,epi}()

2026-05-23T11:07:05+00:00

[ Upstream commit 0feaf644f7180c4a91b6b405a881afbfd958f1cf ] With __ep_remove() gone, the double-underscore on __ep_remove_file() and __ep_remove_epi() no longer contrasts with a __-less parent and just reads as noise. Rename both to ep_remove_file() and ep_remove_epi(). No functional change. Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) Stable-dep-of: a6dc643c6931 ("eventpoll: fix ep_remove struct eventpoll / struct file UAF") Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin

eventpoll: kill __ep_remove()

2026-05-23T11:07:05+00:00

[ Upstream commit e9e5cd40d7c403e19f21d0f7b8b8ba3a76b58330 ] Remove the boolean conditional in __ep_remove() and restructure the code so the check for racing with eventpoll_release_file() are only done in the ep_remove_safe() path where they belong. Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260423-work-epoll-uaf-v1-3-2470f9eec0f5@kernel.org Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) Stable-dep-of: a6dc643c6931 ("eventpoll: fix ep_remove struct eventpoll / struct file UAF") Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin

eventpoll: split __ep_remove()

2026-05-23T11:07:05+00:00

[ Upstream commit 0f7bdfd413000985de09fc39eb9efa1e091a3ce0 ] Split __ep_remove() to delineate file removal from epoll item removal. Suggested-by: Linus Torvalds Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260423-work-epoll-uaf-v1-2-2470f9eec0f5@kernel.org Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) Stable-dep-of: a6dc643c6931 ("eventpoll: fix ep_remove struct eventpoll / struct file UAF") Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin

eventpoll: use hlist_is_singular_node() in __ep_remove()

2026-05-23T11:07:05+00:00

[ Upstream commit 3d9fd0abc94d8cd430cc7cd7d37ce5e5aae2cd2b ] Replace the open-coded "epi is the only entry in file->f_ep" check with hlist_is_singular_node(). Same semantics, and the helper avoids the head-cacheline access in the common false case. Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260423-work-epoll-uaf-v1-1-2470f9eec0f5@kernel.org Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) Stable-dep-of: a6dc643c6931 ("eventpoll: fix ep_remove struct eventpoll / struct file UAF") Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin

eventpoll: defer struct eventpoll free to RCU grace period

2026-04-22T11:22:19+00:00

[ Upstream commit 07712db80857d5d09ae08f3df85a708ecfc3b61f ] In certain situations, ep_free() in eventpoll.c will kfree the epi->ep eventpoll struct while it still being used by another concurrent thread. Defer the kfree() to an RCU callback to prevent UAF. Fixes: f2e467a48287 ("eventpoll: Fix semi-unbounded recursion") Signed-off-by: Nicholas Carlini Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin

eventpoll: Fix integer overflow in ep_loop_check_proc()

2026-03-12T11:09:34+00:00

commit fdcfce93073d990ed4b71752e31ad1c1d6e9d58b upstream. If a recursive call to ep_loop_check_proc() hits the `result = INT_MAX`, an integer overflow will occur in the calling ep_loop_check_proc() at `result = max(result, ep_loop_check_proc(ep_tovisit, depth + 1) + 1)`, breaking the recursion depth check. Fix it by using a different placeholder value that can't lead to an overflow. Reported-by: Guenter Roeck Fixes: f2e467a48287 ("eventpoll: Fix semi-unbounded recursion") Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Jann Horn Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260223-epoll-int-overflow-v1-1-452f35132224@google.com Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman

eventpoll: Replace rwlock with spinlock

2025-09-05T13:51:24+00:00

The ready event list of an epoll object is protected by read-write semaphore: - The consumer (waiter) acquires the write lock and takes items. - the producer (waker) takes the read lock and adds items. The point of this design is enabling epoll to scale well with large number of producers, as multiple producers can hold the read lock at the same time. Unfortunately, this implementation may cause scheduling priority inversion problem. Suppose the consumer has higher scheduling priority than the producer. The consumer needs to acquire the write lock, but may be blocked by the producer holding the read lock. Since read-write semaphore does not support priority-boosting for the readers (even with CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT=y), we have a case of priority inversion: a higher priority consumer is blocked by a lower priority producer. This problem was reported in [1]. Furthermore, this could also cause stall problem, as described in [2]. Fix this problem by replacing rwlock with spinlock. This reduces the event bandwidth, as the producers now have to contend with each other for the spinlock. According to the benchmark from https://github.com/rouming/test-tools/blob/master/stress-epoll.c: On 12 x86 CPUs: Before After Diff threads events/ms events/ms 8 7162 4956 -31% 16 8733 5383 -38% 32 7968 5572 -30% 64 10652 5739 -46% 128 11236 5931 -47% On 4 riscv CPUs: Before After Diff threads events/ms events/ms 8 2958 2833 -4% 16 3323 3097 -7% 32 3451 3240 -6% 64 3554 3178 -11% 128 3601 3235 -10% Although the numbers look bad, it should be noted that this benchmark creates multiple threads who do nothing except constantly generating new epoll events, thus contention on the spinlock is high. For real workload, the event rate is likely much lower, and the performance drop is not as bad. Using another benchmark (perf bench epoll wait) where spinlock contention is lower, improvement is even observed on x86: On 12 x86 CPUs: Before: Averaged 110279 operations/sec (+- 1.09%), total secs = 8 After: Averaged 114577 operations/sec (+- 2.25%), total secs = 8 On 4 riscv CPUs: Before: Averaged 175767 operations/sec (+- 0.62%), total secs = 8 After: Averaged 167396 operations/sec (+- 0.23%), total secs = 8 In conclusion, no one is likely to be upset over this change. After all, spinlock was used originally for years, and the commit which converted to rwlock didn't mention a real workload, just that the benchmark numbers are nice. This patch is not exactly the revert of commit a218cc491420 ("epoll: use rwlock in order to reduce ep_poll_callback() contention"), because git revert conflicts in some places which are not obvious on the resolution. This patch is intended to be backported, therefore go with the obvious approach: - Replace rwlock_t with spinlock_t one to one - Delete list_add_tail_lockless() and chain_epi_lockless(). These were introduced to allow producers to concurrently add items to the list. But now that spinlock no longer allows producers to touch the event list concurrently, these two functions are not necessary anymore. Fixes: a218cc491420 ("epoll: use rwlock in order to reduce ep_poll_callback() contention") Signed-off-by: Nam Cao Link: https://lore.kernel.org/ec92458ea357ec503c737ead0f10b2c6e4c37d47.1752581388.git.namcao@linutronix.de Tested-by: K Prateek Nayak Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Reported-by: Frederic Weisbecker Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rt-users/20210825132754.GA895675@lothringen/ [1] Reported-by: Valentin Schneider Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-rt-users/xhsmhttqvnall.mognet@vschneid.remote.csb/ [2] Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner

Merge tag 'vfs-6.17-rc1.misc' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/vfs/vfs

2025-07-28T18:22:56+00:00

Pull misc VFS updates from Christian Brauner: "This contains the usual selections of misc updates for this cycle. Features: - Add ext4 IOCB_DONTCACHE support This refactors the address_space_operations write_begin() and write_end() callbacks to take const struct kiocb * as their first argument, allowing IOCB flags such as IOCB_DONTCACHE to propagate to the filesystem's buffered I/O path. Ext4 is updated to implement handling of the IOCB_DONTCACHE flag and advertises support via the FOP_DONTCACHE file operation flag. Additionally, the i915 driver's shmem write paths are updated to bypass the legacy write_begin/write_end interface in favor of directly calling write_iter() with a constructed synchronous kiocb. Another i915 change replaces a manual write loop with kernel_write() during GEM shmem object creation. Cleanups: - don't duplicate vfs_open() in kernel_file_open() - proc_fd_getattr(): don't bother with S_ISDIR() check - fs/ecryptfs: replace snprintf with sysfs_emit in show function - vfs: Remove unnecessary list_for_each_entry_safe() from evict_inodes() - filelock: add new locks_wake_up_waiter() helper - fs: Remove three arguments from block_write_end() - VFS: change old_dir and new_dir in struct renamedata to dentrys - netfs: Remove unused declaration netfs_queue_write_request() Fixes: - eventpoll: Fix semi-unbounded recursion - eventpoll: fix sphinx documentation build warning - fs/read_write: Fix spelling typo - fs: annotate data race between poll_schedule_timeout() and pollwake() - fs/pipe: set FMODE_NOWAIT in create_pipe_files() - docs/vfs: update references to i_mutex to i_rwsem - fs/buffer: remove comment about hard sectorsize - fs/buffer: remove the min and max limit checks in __getblk_slow() - fs/libfs: don't assume blocksize <= PAGE_SIZE in generic_check_addressable - fs_context: fix parameter name in infofc() macro - fs: Prevent file descriptor table allocations exceeding INT_MAX" * tag 'vfs-6.17-rc1.misc' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/vfs/vfs: (24 commits) netfs: Remove unused declaration netfs_queue_write_request() eventpoll: fix sphinx documentation build warning ext4: support uncached buffered I/O mm/pagemap: add write_begin_get_folio() helper function fs: change write_begin/write_end interface to take struct kiocb * drm/i915: Refactor shmem_pwrite() to use kiocb and write_iter drm/i915: Use kernel_write() in shmem object create eventpoll: Fix semi-unbounded recursion vfs: Remove unnecessary list_for_each_entry_safe() from evict_inodes() fs/libfs: don't assume blocksize <= PAGE_SIZE in generic_check_addressable fs/buffer: remove the min and max limit checks in __getblk_slow() fs: Prevent file descriptor table allocations exceeding INT_MAX fs: Remove three arguments from block_write_end() fs/ecryptfs: replace snprintf with sysfs_emit in show function fs: annotate suspected data race between poll_schedule_timeout() and pollwake() docs/vfs: update references to i_mutex to i_rwsem fs/buffer: remove comment about hard sectorsize fs_context: fix parameter name in infofc() macro VFS: change old_dir and new_dir in struct renamedata to dentrys proc_fd_getattr(): don't bother with S_ISDIR() check ...