[PATCH] ima: return error early if file xattr cannot be changed

[PATCH] ima: return error early if file xattr cannot be changed

[Goldwyn Rodrigues]

During early boot, the filesystem is read-only and any changes
to xattrs are not allowed. This fails in case of ext4 because
changing xattr starts an ext4 transaction which fails with the
following warning.

WARNING: fs/ext4/ext4_jbd2.c:75 at ext4_journal_check_start+0x63/0xa0 [ext4], CPU#1: systemd-sysroot/561
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 561 Comm: systemd-sysroot Not tainted 6.19.12-1-default #1 PREEMPT(voluntary) openSUSE Tumbleweed  c2dfc3c9d9f6f1233251c5d4410574fe82a348ee
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS unknown 02/02/2022
RIP: 0010:ext4_journal_check_start+0x63/0xa0 [ext4]
Call Trace:
  __ext4_journal_start_sb+0x3e/0x180 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
  ext4_xattr_set+0x104/0x150 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
  __vfs_setxattr+0x9a/0xd0
  __vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x76/0x1f0
  ima_appraise_measurement+0x23e/0xe40
  ima_d_path+0x5a/0xd0
  process_measurement+0xb29/0xc40
  ? copy_from_kernel_nofault+0x21/0xe0
  ? fscrypt_file_open+0xc0/0xe0
  ? ext4_file_open+0x60/0x490 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
  ? bpf_prog_31efb7c56239148b_restrict_filesystems+0xab/0x126
  ? __bpf_prog_exit+0x23/0xd0
  ? __bpf_tramp_exit+0xd/0x50
  ? bpf_trampoline_6442530367+0x9f/0xea
  ima_file_check+0x57/0x80
  security_file_post_open+0x50/0xf0
  path_openat+0x493/0x1650
  do_filp_open+0xc7/0x170

Detect the state of the file early and return the error.

Signed-off-by: Goldwyn Rodrigues <rgoldwyn@suse.com>
---
 security/integrity/ima/ima_appraise.c | 5 +++++
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)

diff --git a/security/integrity/ima/ima_appraise.c b/security/integrity/ima/ima_appraise.c
index 870dde67707b..6a4dda46114c 100644
--- a/security/integrity/ima/ima_appraise.c
+++ b/security/integrity/ima/ima_appraise.c
@@ -90,6 +90,11 @@ static int ima_fix_xattr(struct dentry *dentry,
 	int rc, offset;
 	u8 algo = iint->ima_hash->algo;
 
+	if (IS_RDONLY(d_inode(dentry)))
+		return -EROFS;
+	if (IS_IMMUTABLE(d_inode(dentry)))
+		return -EPERM;
+
 	if (algo <= HASH_ALGO_SHA1) {
 		offset = 1;
 		iint->ima_hash->xattr.sha1.type = IMA_XATTR_DIGEST;
-- 
2.53.0

Re: [PATCH] ima: return error early if file xattr cannot be changed

[Mimi Zohar]

On Wed, 2026-04-22 at 07:34 -0400, Goldwyn Rodrigues wrote:
> During early boot, the filesystem is read-only and any changes
> to xattrs are not allowed. This fails in case of ext4 because
> changing xattr starts an ext4 transaction which fails with the
> following warning.
> 
> WARNING: fs/ext4/ext4_jbd2.c:75 at ext4_journal_check_start+0x63/0xa0 [ext4], CPU#1: systemd-sysroot/561
> CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 561 Comm: systemd-sysroot Not tainted 6.19.12-1-default #1 PREEMPT(voluntary) openSUSE Tumbleweed  c2dfc3c9d9f6f1233251c5d4410574fe82a348ee
> Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS unknown 02/02/2022
> RIP: 0010:ext4_journal_check_start+0x63/0xa0 [ext4]
> Call Trace:
>   __ext4_journal_start_sb+0x3e/0x180 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
>   ext4_xattr_set+0x104/0x150 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
>   __vfs_setxattr+0x9a/0xd0
>   __vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x76/0x1f0
>   ima_appraise_measurement+0x23e/0xe40
>   ima_d_path+0x5a/0xd0
>   process_measurement+0xb29/0xc40
>   ? copy_from_kernel_nofault+0x21/0xe0
>   ? fscrypt_file_open+0xc0/0xe0
>   ? ext4_file_open+0x60/0x490 [ext4 6d025f3bc52c89a957b89a89d211fadf5e9434e1]
>   ? bpf_prog_31efb7c56239148b_restrict_filesystems+0xab/0x126
>   ? __bpf_prog_exit+0x23/0xd0
>   ? __bpf_tramp_exit+0xd/0x50
>   ? bpf_trampoline_6442530367+0x9f/0xea
>   ima_file_check+0x57/0x80
>   security_file_post_open+0x50/0xf0
>   path_openat+0x493/0x1650
>   do_filp_open+0xc7/0x170
> 
> Detect the state of the file early and return the error.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Goldwyn Rodrigues <rgoldwyn@suse.com>

Thank you!  The patch makes a lot of sense.

Mimi

> ---
>  security/integrity/ima/ima_appraise.c | 5 +++++
>  1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/security/integrity/ima/ima_appraise.c b/security/integrity/ima/ima_appraise.c
> index 870dde67707b..6a4dda46114c 100644
> --- a/security/integrity/ima/ima_appraise.c
> +++ b/security/integrity/ima/ima_appraise.c
> @@ -90,6 +90,11 @@ static int ima_fix_xattr(struct dentry *dentry,
>  	int rc, offset;
>  	u8 algo = iint->ima_hash->algo;
>  
> +	if (IS_RDONLY(d_inode(dentry)))
> +		return -EROFS;
> +	if (IS_IMMUTABLE(d_inode(dentry)))
> +		return -EPERM;
> +
>  	if (algo <= HASH_ALGO_SHA1) {
>  		offset = 1;
>  		iint->ima_hash->xattr.sha1.type = IMA_XATTR_DIGEST;