Re: [PATCH] ext4: fix races in ext4_sync_parent()

[Al Viro <viro@ZenIV.linux.org.uk>]

On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 08:34:22PM -0400, Ted Ts'o wrote:
> > > +		dentry = list_first_entry(&inode->i_dentry,
> > > +					  struct dentry, d_alias);
> > 
> > ... and what if you don't have a dentry for that inode anymore?
> 
> I thought you were complaining that dentry could never be NULL
> earlier?  We earlier checked for NULL, but I figured you knew
> something I didn't....

The pointer won't be NULL, of course, but what guarantees that inode->i_dentry
won't be *empty*?  IOW, you could get a perfectly non-NULL pointer, equal to
	(char *)inode + offsetof(struct inode, i_dentry)
	 - offsetof(struct dentry, d_alias)
and treating it as struct dentry * won't do you any good...

> > > +		next = igrab(dentry->d_parent->d_inode);
> > 
> > what protects you against rename() (OK, d_mode()) here?
> 
> Does it matter?  We'll get either the old or the new parent directory,
> but either way it will be a valid inode, right?  Or am I missing
> something?

Once d_move() has happened, there's nothing to protect the old parent
anymore...  Granted, it's a hell of a narrow race window, but you
need at least ->d_lock on your dentry...