Bug 2555026 (CVE-2026-98539)

Summary: CVE-2026-98539 kernel: fs/ntfs3: use d_instantiate_new() in ntfs_create_inode() and murder syzbot's "WARNING in do_new_mount" saga
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's NTFS3 file system driver. A race condition during directory creation allows concurrent path lookup or mount operations to access and lock an inode before its initialization finishes. This improper synchronization resets and corrupts the directory's internal lock state, causing subsequent operations on the directory to hang indefinitely. A local user could exploit this flaw to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by triggering concurrent file operations on an NTFS3 file system.
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:40:03 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fs/ntfs3: use d_instantiate_new() in ntfs_create_inode() and murder syzbot's "WARNING in do_new_mount" saga

ntfs_create_inode() creates a new inode via ntfs_new_inode(). It hashes
it with insert_inode_locked() and so it's marked as I_NEW until
unlock_new_inode().

ntfs 3 calls d_instantiate() in between though... Since the dentry was
already hashed by the lookup before the create any path walk finds it
without touching the parent's i_rwsem and so can lock the inode.

If the inode is a directory unlock_new_inode() calls
lockdep_annotate_inode_mutex_key() and marks i_rwsem with the
i_mutex_dir_key class.

That resets the count and the owner of a lock somebody else may already
hold by now...

syzbot has been spamming us with the same godforsaken bug

  "WARNING in do_new_mount"

since 2023. I can't take it anymore so I went looking. Afaict, syzbot's
executor chdirs into a freshly mounted ntfs3 image, creates a
directory and then mounts some pseudofs on it. Everytime the mkdir()
takes longer than syzbot waits mount() runs concurrently:

  mkdir("./sys")                        mount(NULL, "./sys", "sysfs")
  ntfs_create_inode()
    d_instantiate()
                                        user_path_at() finds the dentry
                                        do_lock_mount()
                                          inode_lock(inode)
                                          namespace_lock()
    unlock_new_inode()
      lockdep_annotate_inode_mutex_key()
        init_rwsem(&inode->i_rwsem)
                                        unlock_mount()
                                          inode_unlock(inode)

The mount side then releases a lock that according to the rwsem nobody
holds:

  DEBUG_RWSEMS_WARN_ON((rwsem_owner(sem) != current) && ...):
  count = 0x0, magic = 0xffff888043a854e8, owner = 0x0,
  curr 0xffff888000244880, list empty
  WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 5346 at kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1368 __up_write
  Call Trace:
   inode_unlock include/linux/fs.h:877 [inline]
   unlock_mount fs/namespace.c:2892 [inline]
   do_new_mount_fc fs/namespace.c:3828 [inline]
   do_new_mount+0x777/0xa40 fs/namespace.c:3887

On PREEMPT_RT the same thing shows up as

  DEBUG_LOCKS_WARN_ON(rt_mutex_owner(lock) != current)
  WARNING: kernel/locking/rtmutex_common.h:193 at rt_mutex_slowunlock

The up_write() underflows the reset count. A following inode_lock() on
that directory then never returns. A path walk into the new directory
racing with the mkdir() corrupts the lock the same way via
inode_lock_shared() in lookup_slow().

Switch to d_instantiate_new() and drop the trailing unlock_new_inode().
All error paths bail out before that point with I_NEW still set and
keep using discard_new_inode().

May we never see this fscking bug report again.