From: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org>
To: linux-mm@kvack.org, Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
Chris Li <chrisl@kernel.org>, Kairui Song <kasong@tencent.com>
Cc: linux-ext4@vger.kernel.org,
linux-f2fs-devel@lists.sourceforge.net,
linux-fscrypt@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Kemeng Shi <shikemeng@huaweicloud.com>,
Nhat Pham <nphamcs@gmail.com>, Baoquan He <baoquan.he@linux.dev>,
Barry Song <baohua@kernel.org>,
Youngjun Park <youngjun.park@lge.com>,
Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org>,
stable@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] mm/swap: reject swapon() on filesystem-level encrypted files
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:48:53 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260730184853.48347-1-ebiggers@kernel.org> (raw)
ext4 and f2fs don't prevent filesystem-level encrypted files from being
set up directly as swap files. In this case, encryption is bypassed.
No one should be doing this, vs. the methods of encrypted swap that
actually do work (such as swapping to a dm-crypt device, or swapping to
a loopback device on top of a filesystem-level encrypted file).
Nevertheless, to prevent user error, make swapon() explicitly reject
this case. Document this behavior in fscrypt.rst as well.
Fixes: 9bd8212f981e ("ext4 crypto: add encryption policy and password salt support")
Fixes: f424f664f0e8 ("f2fs crypto: add encryption policy and password salt support")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org>
---
Documentation/filesystems/fscrypt.rst | 4 ++++
mm/swapfile.c | 4 ++++
2 files changed, 8 insertions(+)
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/fscrypt.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/fscrypt.rst
index c0dd35f1af12..cba1989777da 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/fscrypt.rst
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/fscrypt.rst
@@ -1238,6 +1238,10 @@ astute users may notice some differences in behavior:
- DAX (Direct Access) is not supported on encrypted files.
+- Encrypted files cannot be used directly as swap files. To swap to
+ an encrypted file, set up a loopback device on top of it.
+ Alternatively, encrypted swap can use a dm-crypt device instead.
+
- The maximum length of an encrypted symlink is 2 bytes shorter than
the maximum length of an unencrypted symlink. For example, on an
EXT4 filesystem with a 4K block size, unencrypted symlinks can be up
diff --git a/mm/swapfile.c b/mm/swapfile.c
index 78b49b0658ad..e4991da81b5f 100644
--- a/mm/swapfile.c
+++ b/mm/swapfile.c
@@ -3650,6 +3650,10 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE2(swapon, const char __user *, specialfile, int, swap_flags)
error = -EBUSY;
goto bad_swap_unlock_inode;
}
+ if (IS_ENCRYPTED(inode)) {
+ error = -EINVAL;
+ goto bad_swap_unlock_inode;
+ }
/*
* The swap subsystem needs a major overhaul to support this.
base-commit: f5098b6bae761e346ebcd9da7f95622c04733cff
--
2.55.0
next reply other threads:[~2026-07-30 18:55 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-07-30 18:48 Eric Biggers [this message]
2026-07-30 19:53 ` [PATCH] mm/swap: reject swapon() on filesystem-level encrypted files Andrew Morton
2026-07-30 20:30 ` Eric Biggers
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=20260730184853.48347-1-ebiggers@kernel.org \
--to=ebiggers@kernel.org \
--cc=akpm@linux-foundation.org \
--cc=baohua@kernel.org \
--cc=baoquan.he@linux.dev \
--cc=chrisl@kernel.org \
--cc=kasong@tencent.com \
--cc=linux-ext4@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-f2fs-devel@lists.sourceforge.net \
--cc=linux-fscrypt@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-mm@kvack.org \
--cc=nphamcs@gmail.com \
--cc=shikemeng@huaweicloud.com \
--cc=stable@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=youngjun.park@lge.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