Bug 2516447 (CVE-2026-72203) - CVE-2026-72203 kernel: ntfs: skip extent mft records in writeback to prevent deadlock
Summary: CVE-2026-72203 kernel: ntfs: skip extent mft records in writeback to prevent ...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-72203
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: 2026-08-15 06:13 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-08-18 10:41 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-15 06:13:02 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ntfs: skip extent mft records in writeback to prevent deadlock

This patch fixes the ABBA deadlock between extent_lock and extent
mrec_lock triggered by xfstests generic/113, that occurs since the commit
6994acf33bae ("ntfs: use base mft_no when looking up base inode for
		extent record").

Path A (inode writeback):
  VFS writeback
    -> ntfs_write_inode()
      -> __ntfs_write_inode()
        -> mutex_lock(&ni->extent_lock)
        -> mutex_lock(&tni->mrec_lock)

Path B (MFT folio writeback):
  VFS writeback of $MFT dirty folios
    -> ntfs_mft_writepages()
      -> ntfs_write_mft_block()
        -> ntfs_may_write_mft_record()
          -> holds one extent mrec_lock from a previous iteration
          -> tries to acquire another base inode extent_lock

By removing all extent_lock and extent mrec_lock acquisition from the MFT
folio writeback path, the ABBA lock ordering is eliminated:

Path A: __ntfs_write_inode(): extent_lock -> mrec_lock
Path B (removed): ntfs_write_mft_block(): mrec_lock -> extent_lock

Path B is always redundant for extent records because:

1. mark_mft_record_dirty(ext_ni) does NOT dirty the MFT folio.
   It only sets NInoDirty(ext_ni) and marks the base VFS inode dirty
   via __mark_inode_dirty(I_DIRTY_DATASYNC), which triggers Path A.
   Therefore, normal extent modifications never create a situation where
   the MFT folio is dirty and Path B is not scheduled.

2. The MFT folio only gets dirtied via ntfs_mft_mark_dirty() inside
   ntfs_mft_record_alloc(). But all identified callers in attrib.c
   (ntfs_attr_add, ntfs_attr_record_move_away,
   ntfs_attr_make_non_resident, ntfs_attr_record_resize) follow through
   with mark_mft_record_dirty(), which triggers Path A to write the
   complete record.

3. ntfs_evict_big_inode() calls ntfs_commit_inode() before freeing extent
   inodes, ensuring all dirty extents are flushed via Path A before the
   base inode leaves the icache.


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