Linux CIFS filesystem development
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: James Montgomery <james_montgomery@disroot.org>
To: linux-cifs@vger.kernel.org
Cc: linkinjeon@kernel.org, smfrench@gmail.com,
	senozhatsky@chromium.org, tom@talpey.com,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	James Montgomery <james_montgomery@disroot.org>,
	stable@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] ksmbd: defer destroy_previous_session() until after NTLM authentication
Date: Thu,  2 Jul 2026 11:54:49 -0400	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260702155449.3639773-1-james_montgomery@disroot.org> (raw)

In ntlm_authenticate(), destroy_previous_session() is called using a
user pointer resolved from the client-supplied NTLM blob username field
before the NTLMv2 response is validated. An authenticated attacker can
set the NTLM blob username to match a victim account and set
PreviousSessionId to the victim's session ID; destroy_previous_session()
destroys the victim's session while ksmbd_decode_ntlmssp_auth_blob()
subsequently rejects the request with -EPERM.

Move destroy_previous_session() to after ksmbd_decode_ntlmssp_auth_blob()
returns success and use sess->user rather than the pre-authentication
lookup result. This matches the ordering already used by
krb5_authenticate(), where destroy_previous_session() is called only
after ksmbd_krb5_authenticate() returns success.

Fixes: e2f34481b24d ("cifsd: add server-side procedures for SMB3")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: James Montgomery <james_montgomery@disroot.org>
---
Note: portions of this patch were suggested by an AI coding assistant
(Claude Code / Anthropic). The ordering issue was identified via static
analysis of ntlm_authenticate() and validated empirically using a PoC
against ksmbd running Linux 7.1.0 in QEMU. The fix was verified by:
checkpatch.pl --strict (0 errors, 0 warnings), sparse (HEAD, 0 warnings),
and build test (make fs/smb/server/, clean). The assistant was prompted
to identify and fix the destroy_previous_session() ordering issue relative
to NTLMv2 validation, matching the pattern already used in krb5_authenticate().

 fs/smb/server/smb2pdu.c | 6 +++---
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/smb/server/smb2pdu.c b/fs/smb/server/smb2pdu.c
index 5859fa68bb84..1ce13b23cf6c 100644
--- a/fs/smb/server/smb2pdu.c
+++ b/fs/smb/server/smb2pdu.c
@@ -1670,10 +1670,7 @@ static int ntlm_authenticate(struct ksmbd_work *work,
 		return -EPERM;
 	}
 
-	/* Check for previous session */
 	prev_id = le64_to_cpu(req->PreviousSessionId);
-	if (prev_id && prev_id != sess->id)
-		destroy_previous_session(conn, user, prev_id);
 
 	if (sess->state == SMB2_SESSION_VALID) {
 		/*
@@ -1712,6 +1709,9 @@ static int ntlm_authenticate(struct ksmbd_work *work,
 		}
 	}
 
+	if (prev_id && prev_id != sess->id)
+		destroy_previous_session(conn, sess->user, prev_id);
+
 	/*
 	 * If session state is SMB2_SESSION_VALID, We can assume
 	 * that it is reauthentication. And the user/password
-- 
2.47.3


             reply	other threads:[~2026-07-02 15:54 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-07-02 15:54 James Montgomery [this message]
2026-07-03  5:01 ` [PATCH] ksmbd: defer destroy_previous_session() until after NTLM authentication Namjae Jeon
2026-07-03 19:26   ` James Montgomery

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=20260702155449.3639773-1-james_montgomery@disroot.org \
    --to=james_montgomery@disroot.org \
    --cc=linkinjeon@kernel.org \
    --cc=linux-cifs@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=senozhatsky@chromium.org \
    --cc=smfrench@gmail.com \
    --cc=stable@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=tom@talpey.com \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox