Bug 2502179 (CVE-2026-53368)

Summary: CVE-2026-53368 kernel: f2fs: fix fsck inconsistency caused by incorrect nat_entry flag usage
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: unspecified Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's F2FS (Flash-Friendly File System) component. A race condition exists where the `f2fs_need_dentry_mark()` function incorrectly reads `nat_entry` flags without proper synchronization during checkpoint operations. This can lead to an inconsistent inode block marking state, which may be reported by filesystem check utilities (fsck) as an error, potentially impacting data integrity or system stability.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-07-19 10:01:37 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

f2fs: fix fsck inconsistency caused by incorrect nat_entry flag usage

f2fs_need_dentry_mark() reads nat_entry flags without mutual exclusion
with the checkpoint path, which can result in an incorrect inode block
marking state. The scenario is as follows:

create & write & fsync 'file A'                 write checkpoint
- f2fs_do_sync_file // inline inode
 - f2fs_write_inode // inode folio is dirty
                                                - f2fs_write_checkpoint
                                                 - f2fs_flush_merged_writes
                                                 - f2fs_sync_node_pages
 - f2fs_fsync_node_pages // no dirty node
 - f2fs_need_inode_block_update // return true
 - f2fs_fsync_node_pages // inode dirtied
  - f2fs_need_dentry_mark //return true
                                                 - f2fs_flush_nat_entries
                                                - f2fs_write_checkpoint end
  - __write_node_folio // inode with DENT_BIT_SHIFT set
  SPO, "fsck --dry-run" find inode has already checkpointed but still
  with DENT_BIT_SHIFT set

The state observed by f2fs_need_dentry_mark() can differ from the state
observed in __write_node_folio() after acquiring sbi->node_write. The
root cause is that the semantics of IS_CHECKPOINTED and
HAS_FSYNCED_INODE are only guaranteed after the checkpoint write has
fully completed.

This patch moves set_dentry_mark() into __write_node_folio() and
protects it with the sbi->node_write lock.