GHSA-MVH9-78P9-62X7
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-09-11 21:31 – Updated: 2026-09-13 09:32In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ovl: fix double end_creating() on the casefold-mismatch path
ovl_create_real() releases the new dentry twice when the casefold consistency check fails. The S_IFDIR branch calls end_creating() and sets err, then falls through to the common out: label which calls end_creating() on the same dentry again:
case S_IFDIR:
newdentry = ovl_do_mkdir(ofs, dir, newdentry, attr->mode);
err = PTR_ERR_OR_ZERO(newdentry);
if (!err && ofs->casefold != ovl_dentry_casefolded(newdentry)) {
pr_warn_ratelimited(...);
end_creating(newdentry); /* first */
err = -EINVAL;
}
break;
...
if (err)
goto out;
...
out: if (err) { end_creating(newdentry); / second, same dentry / return ERR_PTR(err); }
end_creating() is end_dirop(), which does inode_unlock() on the parent and dput() on the dentry, so the parent directory's i_rwsem is unlocked twice and the dentry is put twice. The second unlock releases a lock that is not held, which is what wedges every later creation under that parent, and the second dput() drops a reference that was never taken.
The branch was added by commit dfc7da402ccc ("ovl: Check for casefold consistency when creating new dentries") as a bare dput(), which already released the reference twice; commit fe497f0759e0 ("VFS: change vfs_mkdir() to unlock on failure.") converted both sites to end_creating(), adding the double unlock.
This is reachable by an unprivileged user. The casefold consistency of the layers is validated at mount time in ovl_parse_layer(), and again on every lookup in ovl_lookup_single(), but ofs->workdir is the internal "work" subdirectory created inside the user-supplied workdir, and that subdirectory is not re-checked. Marking it casefolded after the mount therefore makes every ovl_create_temp() inherit the wrong state - and that path reaches ovl_create_real() through ovl_start_creating_temp(), which uses start_creating() with a generated name and so never runs the lookup-time check.
unshare -Urm mount -t tmpfs -o casefold=utf8-12.1.0 tmpfs mnt mkdir -p mnt/lower/d mnt/upper mnt/work mnt/merged mount -t overlay ovl -o lowerdir=mnt/lower,\ upperdir=mnt/upper,workdir=mnt/work mnt/merged chattr +F mnt/work/work mkdir mnt/merged/d/sub # directory copy-up
overlayfs: wrong inherited casefold (work/#5)
and the next copy-up blocks forever on the parent's i_rwsem:
mkdir D start_creating+0x65/0xb0 ovl_start_creating_temp+0xb0/0xe0 [overlay] ovl_create_temp+0xa3/0x1d0 [overlay] ovl_copy_up_one+0x1f1c/0x21c0 [overlay] ovl_copy_up_flags+0xf5/0x140 [overlay] ovl_create_object+0xb7/0x220 [overlay] ovl_mkdir+0x23/0x40 [overlay]
Drop the end_creating() from the branch and let out: own the cleanup, which is what every other error path in this function already does.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2026-89767"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2026-09-11T20:20:07Z",
"severity": "HIGH"
},
"details": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\novl: fix double end_creating() on the casefold-mismatch path\n\novl_create_real() releases the new dentry twice when the casefold\nconsistency check fails. The S_IFDIR branch calls end_creating() and\nsets err, then falls through to the common out: label which calls\nend_creating() on the same dentry again:\n\n\tcase S_IFDIR:\n\t\tnewdentry = ovl_do_mkdir(ofs, dir, newdentry, attr-\u003emode);\n\t\terr = PTR_ERR_OR_ZERO(newdentry);\n\t\tif (!err \u0026\u0026 ofs-\u003ecasefold != ovl_dentry_casefolded(newdentry)) {\n\t\t\tpr_warn_ratelimited(...);\n\t\t\tend_creating(newdentry);\t/* first */\n\t\t\terr = -EINVAL;\n\t\t}\n\t\tbreak;\n\t...\n\tif (err)\n\t\tgoto out;\n\t...\n out:\n\tif (err) {\n\t\tend_creating(newdentry);\t/* second, same dentry */\n\t\treturn ERR_PTR(err);\n\t}\n\nend_creating() is end_dirop(), which does inode_unlock() on the parent\nand dput() on the dentry, so the parent directory\u0027s i_rwsem is unlocked\ntwice and the dentry is put twice. The second unlock releases a lock\nthat is not held, which is what wedges every later creation under that\nparent, and the second dput() drops a reference that was never taken.\n\nThe branch was added by commit dfc7da402ccc (\"ovl: Check for casefold\nconsistency when creating new dentries\") as a bare dput(), which already\nreleased the reference twice; commit fe497f0759e0 (\"VFS: change\nvfs_mkdir() to unlock on failure.\") converted both sites to\nend_creating(), adding the double unlock.\n\nThis is reachable by an unprivileged user. The casefold consistency of\nthe layers is validated at mount time in ovl_parse_layer(), and again on\nevery lookup in ovl_lookup_single(), but ofs-\u003eworkdir is the internal\n\"work\" subdirectory created inside the user-supplied workdir, and that\nsubdirectory is not re-checked. Marking it casefolded after the mount\ntherefore makes every ovl_create_temp() inherit the wrong state - and\nthat path reaches ovl_create_real() through ovl_start_creating_temp(),\nwhich uses start_creating() with a generated name and so never runs the\nlookup-time check.\n\n unshare -Urm\n mount -t tmpfs -o casefold=utf8-12.1.0 tmpfs mnt\n mkdir -p mnt/lower/d mnt/upper mnt/work mnt/merged\n mount -t overlay ovl -o lowerdir=mnt/lower,\\\n upperdir=mnt/upper,workdir=mnt/work mnt/merged\n chattr +F mnt/work/work\n mkdir mnt/merged/d/sub\t\t# directory copy-up\n\n overlayfs: wrong inherited casefold (work/#5)\n\nand the next copy-up blocks forever on the parent\u0027s i_rwsem:\n\n mkdir D start_creating+0x65/0xb0\n ovl_start_creating_temp+0xb0/0xe0 [overlay]\n ovl_create_temp+0xa3/0x1d0 [overlay]\n ovl_copy_up_one+0x1f1c/0x21c0 [overlay]\n ovl_copy_up_flags+0xf5/0x140 [overlay]\n ovl_create_object+0xb7/0x220 [overlay]\n ovl_mkdir+0x23/0x40 [overlay]\n\nDrop the end_creating() from the branch and let out: own the cleanup,\nwhich is what every other error path in this function already does.",
"id": "GHSA-mvh9-78p9-62x7",
"modified": "2026-09-13T09:32:30Z",
"published": "2026-09-11T21:31:39Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-89767"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/077ab8985ee278c3d8618182d335b0f0cd919e16"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2fa220bc0f84597cb6de665e5b5021c5901ddf00"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b1aa8ab78a8e87aee9e306971465408e059f839a"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
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Nomenclature
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