In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
fs/notify: call exportfs_encode_fid with s_umount
Calling intotify_show_fdinfo() on fd watching an overlayfs inode, while
the overlayfs is being unmounted, can lead to dereferencing NULL ptr.
This issue was found by syzkaller.
Race Condition Diagram:
Thread 1 Thread 2
-------- --------
generic_shutdown_super()
shrink_dcache_for_umount
sb->s_root = NULL
|
| vfs_read()
| inotify_fdinfo()
| * inode get from mark *
| show_mark_fhandle(m, inode)
| exportfs_encode_fid(inode, ..)
| ovl_encode_fh(inode, ..)
| ovl_check_encode_origin(inode)
| * deref i_sb->s_root *
|
|
v
fsnotify_sb_delete(sb)
Which then leads to:
[ 32.133461] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000006: 0000 [#1] SMP DEBUG_PAGEALLOC KASAN NOPTI
[ 32.134438] KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000030-0x0000000000000037]
[ 32.135032] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 4468 Comm: systemd-coredum Not tainted 6.17.0-rc6 #22 PREEMPT(none)
<snip registers, unreliable trace>
[ 32.143353] Call Trace:
[ 32.143732] ovl_encode_fh+0xd5/0x170
[ 32.144031] exportfs_encode_inode_fh+0x12f/0x300
[ 32.144425] show_mark_fhandle+0xbe/0x1f0
[ 32.145805] inotify_fdinfo+0x226/0x2d0
[ 32.146442] inotify_show_fdinfo+0x1c5/0x350
[ 32.147168] seq_show+0x530/0x6f0
[ 32.147449] seq_read_iter+0x503/0x12a0
[ 32.148419] seq_read+0x31f/0x410
[ 32.150714] vfs_read+0x1f0/0x9e0
[ 32.152297] ksys_read+0x125/0x240
IOW ovl_check_encode_origin derefs inode->i_sb->s_root, after it was set
to NULL in the unmount path.
Fix it by protecting calling exportfs_encode_fid() from
show_mark_fhandle() with s_umount lock.
This form of fix was suggested by Amir in [1].
[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAOQ4uxhbDwhb+2Brs1UdkoF0a3NSdBAOQPNfEHjahrgoKJpLEw@mail.gmail.com/
Metrics
Affected Vendors & Products
References
History
Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:15:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| References |
| |
| Metrics |
threat_severity
|
cvssV3_1
|
Thu, 04 Dec 2025 15:45:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/notify: call exportfs_encode_fid with s_umount Calling intotify_show_fdinfo() on fd watching an overlayfs inode, while the overlayfs is being unmounted, can lead to dereferencing NULL ptr. This issue was found by syzkaller. Race Condition Diagram: Thread 1 Thread 2 -------- -------- generic_shutdown_super() shrink_dcache_for_umount sb->s_root = NULL | | vfs_read() | inotify_fdinfo() | * inode get from mark * | show_mark_fhandle(m, inode) | exportfs_encode_fid(inode, ..) | ovl_encode_fh(inode, ..) | ovl_check_encode_origin(inode) | * deref i_sb->s_root * | | v fsnotify_sb_delete(sb) Which then leads to: [ 32.133461] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000006: 0000 [#1] SMP DEBUG_PAGEALLOC KASAN NOPTI [ 32.134438] KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000030-0x0000000000000037] [ 32.135032] CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 4468 Comm: systemd-coredum Not tainted 6.17.0-rc6 #22 PREEMPT(none) <snip registers, unreliable trace> [ 32.143353] Call Trace: [ 32.143732] ovl_encode_fh+0xd5/0x170 [ 32.144031] exportfs_encode_inode_fh+0x12f/0x300 [ 32.144425] show_mark_fhandle+0xbe/0x1f0 [ 32.145805] inotify_fdinfo+0x226/0x2d0 [ 32.146442] inotify_show_fdinfo+0x1c5/0x350 [ 32.147168] seq_show+0x530/0x6f0 [ 32.147449] seq_read_iter+0x503/0x12a0 [ 32.148419] seq_read+0x31f/0x410 [ 32.150714] vfs_read+0x1f0/0x9e0 [ 32.152297] ksys_read+0x125/0x240 IOW ovl_check_encode_origin derefs inode->i_sb->s_root, after it was set to NULL in the unmount path. Fix it by protecting calling exportfs_encode_fid() from show_mark_fhandle() with s_umount lock. This form of fix was suggested by Amir in [1]. [1]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAOQ4uxhbDwhb+2Brs1UdkoF0a3NSdBAOQPNfEHjahrgoKJpLEw@mail.gmail.com/ | |
| Title | fs/notify: call exportfs_encode_fid with s_umount | |
| First Time appeared |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | |
| Vendors & Products |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| References |
|
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published: 2025-12-04T15:31:27.325Z
Updated: 2025-12-04T15:31:27.325Z
Reserved: 2025-04-16T07:20:57.181Z
Link: CVE-2025-40237
No data.
Status : Awaiting Analysis
Published: 2025-12-04T16:16:16.697
Modified: 2025-12-04T17:15:08.283
Link: CVE-2025-40237