Bug 2555026 (CVE-2026-98539) - CVE-2026-98539 kernel: fs/ntfs3: use d_instantiate_new() in ntfs_create_inode() and murder syzbot's "WARNING in do_new_mount" saga
Summary: CVE-2026-98539 kernel: fs/ntfs3: use d_instantiate_new() in ntfs_create_inode...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-98539
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-10-18 15:40 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-10-19 22:27 UTC (History)
17 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:
Embargoed:


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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.


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