FAILED: patch "[PATCH] ovl: use linked upper dentry in copy-up tmpfile" failed to apply to 6.12-stable tree

The patch below does not apply to the 6.12-stable tree.
If someone wants it applied there, or to any other stable or longterm tree, then please email the backport, including the original git commit id to <[email protected]>.

To reproduce the conflict and resubmit, you may use the following commands:

git fetch https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/ linux-6.12.y
git checkout FETCH_HEAD
git cherry-pick -x e348eecd4d8fa8d18a5157ff59f7be1dc59c5928
# <resolve conflicts, build, test, etc.>
git commit -s
git send-email --to '<[email protected]>' --in-reply-to '2026072032-shine-duplicate-4a48@gregkh' --subject-prefix 'PATCH 6.12.y' 'HEAD^..'

Possible dependencies:

thanks,

greg k-h

------------------ original commit in Linus's tree ------------------

From e348eecd4d8fa8d18a5157ff59f7be1dc59c5928 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Souvik Banerjee <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 1 May 2026 23:27:35 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] ovl: use linked upper dentry in copy-up tmpfile
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

ovl_copy_up_tmpfile() stores the disconnected O_TMPFILE dentry as the overlay's upper dentry reference via ovl_inode_update(). vfs_tmpfile() allocated this dentry via d_alloc(parentpath->dentry, &slash_name), so d_name is "/" and d_parent is c->workdir. Local upper filesystems (ext4, btrfs, xfs, ...) immediately rename it to "#<inum>" via d_mark_tmpfile() inside their ->tmpfile() op; FUSE and virtiofs do not, so both fields stay that way. Neither identifies the destination directory and filename where ovl_do_link() actually linked the file.

When the upper filesystem implements ->d_revalidate() (e.g. FUSE or virtiofs), ovl_revalidate_real() calls it with the dentry's parent inode and a snapshot of d_name. The server tries to look up "/" inside c->workdir, fails, and overlayfs reports -ESTALE.

This causes persistent ESTALE errors for any file that was copied up via the tmpfile path, breaking dpkg, apt, and other tools that do rename-over-existing on overlayfs with a FUSE/virtiofs upper.

Before commit 6b52243f633e ("ovl: fold copy-up helpers into callers"), the tmpfile copy-up path used a dedicated helper ovl_link_tmpfile() that captured the linked destination dentry returned by ovl_do_link():

    err = ovl_do_link(temp, udir, upper);
    ...
    if (!err)
        *newdentry = dget(upper);

and published it via ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), newdentry). The fold inlined ovl_do_link() into ovl_copy_up_tmpfile() but dropped the dget(upper) capture, and rewrote the publish line as ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), dget(temp)) — where temp is the disconnected O_TMPFILE dentry.

Fix by keeping a reference to the linked destination dentry after ovl_do_link() succeeds, and publishing that dentry at the existing ovl_inode_update() call site. The non-tmpfile/workdir path continues to publish the renamed temporary dentry.

Reproducer:
- Mount overlayfs with virtiofs (or a FUSE fs whose server advertises FUSE_TMPFILE) as upper
- Run: dpkg -i <any .deb>
- Observe: "error installing new file '...': Stale file handle"

index 13cb60b52bd6..e963701b4c87 100644
@@ -853,7 +853,7 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_tmpfile(struct ovl_copy_up_ctx *c)
 {
 	struct ovl_fs *ofs = OVL_FS(c->dentry->d_sb);
 	struct inode *udir = d_inode(c->destdir);
-	struct dentry *temp, *upper;
+	struct dentry *temp, *upper, *newdentry = NULL;
 	struct file *tmpfile;
 	int err;
 

@@ -889,6 +889,14 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_tmpfile(struct ovl_copy_up_ctx *c)
 	err = PTR_ERR(upper);
 	if (!IS_ERR(upper)) {
 		err = ovl_do_link(ofs, temp, udir, upper);
+		if (!err) {
+			/*
+			 * Record the linked dentry -- not the disconnected
+			 * O_TMPFILE dentry -- so that ->d_revalidate() on
+			 * the upper fs sees the real parent/name.
+			 */
+			newdentry = dget(upper);
+		}
 		end_creating(upper);
 	}
 

@@ -903,7 +911,7 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_tmpfile(struct ovl_copy_up_ctx *c)
 
 	if (!c->metacopy)
 		ovl_set_upperdata(d_inode(c->dentry));
-	ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), dget(temp));
+	ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), newdentry);
 
 out:
 	ovl_end_write(c->dentry);

From: Souvik Banerjee <[email protected]>

[ Upstream commit e348eecd4d8fa8d18a5157ff59f7be1dc59c5928 ]

ovl_copy_up_tmpfile() stores the disconnected O_TMPFILE dentry as the overlay's upper dentry reference via ovl_inode_update(). vfs_tmpfile() allocated this dentry via d_alloc(parentpath->dentry, &slash_name), so d_name is "/" and d_parent is c->workdir. Local upper filesystems (ext4, btrfs, xfs, ...) immediately rename it to "#<inum>" via d_mark_tmpfile() inside their ->tmpfile() op; FUSE and virtiofs do not, so both fields stay that way. Neither identifies the destination directory and filename where ovl_do_link() actually linked the file.

When the upper filesystem implements ->d_revalidate() (e.g. FUSE or virtiofs), ovl_revalidate_real() calls it with the dentry's parent inode and a snapshot of d_name. The server tries to look up "/" inside c->workdir, fails, and overlayfs reports -ESTALE.

This causes persistent ESTALE errors for any file that was copied up via the tmpfile path, breaking dpkg, apt, and other tools that do rename-over-existing on overlayfs with a FUSE/virtiofs upper.

Before commit 6b52243f633e ("ovl: fold copy-up helpers into callers"), the tmpfile copy-up path used a dedicated helper ovl_link_tmpfile() that captured the linked destination dentry returned by ovl_do_link():

    err = ovl_do_link(temp, udir, upper);
    ...
    if (!err)
        *newdentry = dget(upper);

and published it via ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), newdentry). The fold inlined ovl_do_link() into ovl_copy_up_tmpfile() but dropped the dget(upper) capture, and rewrote the publish line as ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), dget(temp)) — where temp is the disconnected O_TMPFILE dentry.

Fix by keeping a reference to the linked destination dentry after ovl_do_link() succeeds, and publishing that dentry at the existing ovl_inode_update() call site. The non-tmpfile/workdir path continues to publish the renamed temporary dentry.

Reproducer:
- Mount overlayfs with virtiofs (or a FUSE fs whose server advertises FUSE_TMPFILE) as upper
- Run: dpkg -i <any .deb>
- Observe: "error installing new file '...': Stale file handle"

---
 fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c | 12 ++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

index 75e804bc152ccf..9aa8509b8407a8 100644
@@ -864,7 +864,7 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_tmpfile(struct ovl_copy_up_ctx *c)
 {
 	struct ovl_fs *ofs = OVL_FS(c->dentry->d_sb);
 	struct inode *udir = d_inode(c->destdir);
-	struct dentry *temp, *upper;
+	struct dentry *temp, *upper, *newdentry = NULL;
 	struct file *tmpfile;
 	struct ovl_cu_creds cc;
 	int err;

@@ -901,6 +901,14 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_tmpfile(struct ovl_copy_up_ctx *c)
 	err = PTR_ERR(upper);
 	if (!IS_ERR(upper)) {
 		err = ovl_do_link(ofs, temp, udir, upper);
+		if (!err) {
+			/*
+			 * Record the linked dentry -- not the disconnected
+			 * O_TMPFILE dentry -- so that ->d_revalidate() on
+			 * the upper fs sees the real parent/name.
+			 */
+			newdentry = dget(upper);
+		}
 		dput(upper);
 	}
 	inode_unlock(udir);

@@ -916,7 +924,7 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_tmpfile(struct ovl_copy_up_ctx *c)
 
 	if (!c->metacopy)
 		ovl_set_upperdata(d_inode(c->dentry));
-	ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), dget(temp));
+	ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), newdentry);
 
 out:
 	ovl_end_write(c->dentry);

2.53.0