From: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
To: patches@lists.linux.dev, stable@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>,
syzbot+169de184e9defe7fe709@syzkaller.appspotmail.com,
Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>,
brauner@kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 10/15] better lockdep annotations for simple_recursive_removal()
Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2025 17:22:00 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20250803212206.3548990-10-sashal@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20250803212206.3548990-1-sashal@kernel.org>
From: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
[ Upstream commit 2a8061ee5e41034eb14170ec4517b5583dbeff9f ]
We want a class that nests outside of I_MUTEX_NORMAL (for the sake of
callbacks that might want to lock the victim) and inside I_MUTEX_PARENT
(so that a variant of that could be used with parent of the victim
held locked by the caller).
In reality, simple_recursive_removal()
* never holds two locks at once
* holds the lock on parent of dentry passed to callback
* is used only on the trees with fixed topology, so the depths
are not changing.
So the locking order is actually fine.
AFAICS, the best solution is to assign I_MUTEX_CHILD to the locks
grabbed by that thing.
Reported-by: syzbot+169de184e9defe7fe709@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Signed-off-by: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---
LLM Generated explanations, may be completely bogus:
**Backport Status: YES**
This commit should be backported to stable kernel trees for the
following reasons:
1. **Fixes a lockdep warning reported by syzbot**: The commit message
explicitly mentions "Reported-by:
syzbot+169de184e9defe7fe709@syzkaller.appspotmail.com", indicating
this fixes a real issue detected by kernel testing infrastructure.
2. **Small and contained fix**: The change is minimal - only 2 lines
changed, replacing `inode_lock(inode)` with `inode_lock_nested(inode,
I_MUTEX_CHILD)` in two locations. This is exactly the type of
targeted fix suitable for stable backports.
3. **Fixes incorrect lockdep annotations**: The commit corrects lockdep
annotations without changing actual runtime behavior. According to
the commit message, "the locking order is actually fine" - this is
purely fixing false positive lockdep warnings that could mask real
locking issues.
4. **No functional changes**: The code only changes lockdep annotations
by using `inode_lock_nested()` with `I_MUTEX_CHILD` instead of plain
`inode_lock()`. This doesn't change the actual locking behavior, just
tells lockdep about the correct locking hierarchy.
5. **Prevents false positives in debugging**: False lockdep warnings can
obscure real locking problems and make kernel debugging more
difficult. Fixing these annotations helps maintain the effectiveness
of lockdep as a debugging tool.
6. **Used by multiple filesystems**: Based on my grep results,
`simple_recursive_removal()` is used by several filesystems including
debugfs, tracefs, efivarfs, fuse, and nfsd. A lockdep false positive
here could affect debugging across multiple subsystems.
7. **Low risk**: Since this only changes lockdep annotations and not
actual locking behavior, the risk of regression is minimal. The worst
case would be if the annotation was wrong, which would just result in
lockdep warnings again.
The commit follows stable kernel rules by being a targeted fix for a
specific issue (lockdep false positive) without introducing new features
or architectural changes.
fs/libfs.c | 4 ++--
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/fs/libfs.c b/fs/libfs.c
index 7bb5d90319cc..eaf96297449e 100644
--- a/fs/libfs.c
+++ b/fs/libfs.c
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ void simple_recursive_removal(struct dentry *dentry,
struct dentry *victim = NULL, *child;
struct inode *inode = this->d_inode;
- inode_lock(inode);
+ inode_lock_nested(inode, I_MUTEX_CHILD);
if (d_is_dir(this))
inode->i_flags |= S_DEAD;
while ((child = find_next_child(this, victim)) == NULL) {
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ void simple_recursive_removal(struct dentry *dentry,
victim = this;
this = this->d_parent;
inode = this->d_inode;
- inode_lock(inode);
+ inode_lock_nested(inode, I_MUTEX_CHILD);
if (simple_positive(victim)) {
d_invalidate(victim); // avoid lost mounts
if (d_is_dir(victim))
--
2.39.5
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-08-03 21:22 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 15+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-08-03 21:21 [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 01/15] hfs: fix slab-out-of-bounds in hfs_bnode_read() Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:21 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 02/15] hfsplus: fix slab-out-of-bounds in hfsplus_bnode_read() Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:21 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 03/15] hfsplus: fix slab-out-of-bounds read in hfsplus_uni2asc() Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:21 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 04/15] hfsplus: don't use BUG_ON() in hfsplus_create_attributes_file() Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:21 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 05/15] arm64: Handle KCOV __init vs inline mismatches Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:21 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 06/15] smb/server: avoid deadlock when linking with ReplaceIfExists Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:21 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 07/15] udf: Verify partition map count Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:21 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 08/15] drbd: add missing kref_get in handle_write_conflicts Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:21 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 09/15] hfs: fix not erasing deleted b-tree node issue Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:22 ` Sasha Levin [this message]
2025-08-03 21:22 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 11/15] ata: libata-sata: Disallow changing LPM state if not supported Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:22 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 12/15] fs/ntfs3: Add sanity check for file name Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:22 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 13/15] fs/ntfs3: correctly create symlink for relative path Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:22 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 14/15] ext2: Handle fiemap on empty files to prevent EINVAL Sasha Levin
2025-08-03 21:22 ` [PATCH AUTOSEL 5.15 15/15] securityfs: don't pin dentries twice, once is enough Sasha Levin
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