fs/debugfs/inode.c: thoughts about "CID 101681 Dereference after null check"

["Toralf Förster" <toralf.foerster@gmx.de>]

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Just for fun (and to learn a little bit) I picked up an arbitrary entry from coverity [1] :

	CID 101681 Dereference after null check
	Either the check against null is unnecessary, or there may be a null pointer dereference.
	In debugfs_rename: Pointer is checked against null but then dereferenced anyway 

IMO it might be a real issue. At line 606 of fs/debugfs/inode.c we have:

		trap = lock_rename(new_dir, old_dir);
		/* Source or destination directories don't exist? */
		if (!old_dir->d_inode || !new_dir->d_inode)
			goto exit;

and later :
	exit:
		if (dentry && !IS_ERR(dentry))
			dput(dentry);
		unlock_rename(new_dir, old_dir);
		return NULL;

And in the file fs/namei.c starting with line 2481 we do have :

	void unlock_rename(struct dentry *p1, struct dentry *p2)
	{
		mutex_unlock(&p1->d_inode->i_mutex);
		if (p1 != p2) {
			mutex_unlock(&p2->d_inode->i_mutex);
			mutex_unlock(&p1->d_inode->i_sb->s_vfs_rename_mutex);
		}
	}


I'm wondering if the NULL check should be made before lock_rename()  and probably just returns NULL, eg.:

diff --git a/fs/debugfs/inode.c b/fs/debugfs/inode.c
index 8c41b52..7ead0f6 100644
- --- a/fs/debugfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/debugfs/inode.c
@@ -603,10 +603,10 @@ struct dentry *debugfs_rename(struct dentry *old_dir, struct dentry *old_dentry,
        struct dentry *dentry = NULL, *trap;
        const char *old_name;

- -       trap = lock_rename(new_dir, old_dir);
        /* Source or destination directories don't exist? */
        if (!old_dir->d_inode || !new_dir->d_inode)
- -               goto exit;
+               return NULL;
+       trap = lock_rename(new_dir, old_dir);
        /* Source does not exist, cyclic rename, or mountpoint? */
        if (!old_dentry->d_inode || old_dentry == trap ||
            d_mountpoint(old_dentry))



[1] https://scan5.coverity.com:8443/reports.htm#v32611/p10063/fileInstanceId=55651059&defectInstanceId=17130709&mergedDefectId=101681&eventId=17130709-7

- -- 
MfG/Sincerely
Toralf Förster
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