FAILED: patch "[PATCH] ovl: set OVL_WHITEOUTS before publishing the upper dir" failed to apply to 5.15-stable tree

The patch below does not apply to the 5.15-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-5.15.y
git checkout FETCH_HEAD
git cherry-pick -x cbec8610ec5aaf35df50094ff639febc23f20773
# <resolve conflicts, build, test, etc.>
git commit -s
git send-email --to '<[email protected]>' --in-reply-to '2026110401-photo-throwing-2a3a@gregkh' --subject-prefix 'PATCH 5.15.y' 'HEAD^..'

Possible dependencies:

thanks,

greg k-h

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

From cbec8610ec5aaf35df50094ff639febc23f20773 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Chris Mason <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2026 10:01:19 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] ovl: set OVL_WHITEOUTS before publishing the upper dir

Listing a directory while it is copied up causes a use-after-free of the readdir cache.

A merge directory must never be iterated as a real upper directory:
that mode frees the cache in OVL_I(inode)->cache without looking at its refcount, while files opened in merged mode still use it. ovl_copy_up_workdir() publishes the upper dentry before it sets OVL_WHITEOUTS, and ovl_dir_open() samples both without a lock, so an open between the two stores finds the upper directory and takes it for a real one.

With a delay between the two stores, an unprivileged process that listed a directory during its copy-up saw only "." and "..", and its next getdents freed the readdir cache of another descriptor.

Fix this by setting OVL_WHITEOUTS before ovl_inode_update(), so that ovl_dir_reset() agrees with ovl_dir_open(), and by testing OVL_TYPE_MERGE() of the path type in ovl_dir_open(), so that an open that observes the upper dentry never iterates a merge dir as a real dir, regardless of the order in which it observes the flag.

index eee22581b14f..92b3d08a0234 100644
@@ -819,9 +819,9 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_workdir(struct ovl_copy_up_ctx *c)
 
 	if (!c->metacopy)
 		ovl_set_upperdata(inode);
-	ovl_inode_update(inode, temp);
 	if (S_ISDIR(inode->i_mode))
 		ovl_set_flag(OVL_WHITEOUTS, inode);
+	ovl_inode_update(inode, temp);
 out:
 	ovl_end_write(c->dentry);
 

index 7d6f7f6022eb..ba542a192012 100644
@@ -1055,7 +1055,8 @@ static int ovl_dir_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 		return PTR_ERR(realfile);
 	}
 	od->realfile = realfile;
-	od->is_real = ovl_dir_is_real(inode);
+	od->is_real = !OVL_TYPE_MERGE(type) &&
+		      !ovl_test_flag(OVL_WHITEOUTS, inode);
 	od->is_upper = OVL_TYPE_UPPER(type);
 	file->private_data = od;
 

From: Chris Mason <[email protected]>

[ Upstream commit cbec8610ec5aaf35df50094ff639febc23f20773 ]

Listing a directory while it is copied up causes a use-after-free of the readdir cache.

A merge directory must never be iterated as a real upper directory:
that mode frees the cache in OVL_I(inode)->cache without looking at its refcount, while files opened in merged mode still use it. ovl_copy_up_workdir() publishes the upper dentry before it sets OVL_WHITEOUTS, and ovl_dir_open() samples both without a lock, so an open between the two stores finds the upper directory and takes it for a real one.

With a delay between the two stores, an unprivileged process that listed a directory during its copy-up saw only "." and "..", and its next getdents freed the readdir cache of another descriptor.

Fix this by setting OVL_WHITEOUTS before ovl_inode_update(), so that ovl_dir_reset() agrees with ovl_dir_open(), and by testing OVL_TYPE_MERGE() of the path type in ovl_dir_open(), so that an open that observes the upper dentry never iterates a merge dir as a real dir, regardless of the order in which it observes the flag.

---
 fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c | 2 +-
 fs/overlayfs/readdir.c | 3 ++-
 2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

index 4c7ef60dbaac0..dadca83b41a69 100644
@@ -711,9 +711,9 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_workdir(struct ovl_copy_up_ctx *c)
 	if (!c->metacopy)
 		ovl_set_upperdata(d_inode(c->dentry));
 	inode = d_inode(c->dentry);
-	ovl_inode_update(inode, temp);
 	if (S_ISDIR(inode->i_mode))
 		ovl_set_flag(OVL_WHITEOUTS, inode);
+	ovl_inode_update(inode, temp);
 unlock:
 	unlock_rename(c->workdir, c->destdir);
 

index 666cc62578f65..ed4c34366c5c0 100644
@@ -942,7 +942,8 @@ static int ovl_dir_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 		return PTR_ERR(realfile);
 	}
 	od->realfile = realfile;
-	od->is_real = ovl_dir_is_real(file->f_path.dentry);
+	od->is_real = !OVL_TYPE_MERGE(type) &&
+		      !ovl_test_flag(OVL_WHITEOUTS, inode);
 	od->is_upper = OVL_TYPE_UPPER(type);
 	file->private_data = od;
 

2.53.0