CVE-2024-57924

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fs: relax assertions on failure to encode file handles

Encoding file handles is usually performed by a filesystem >encode_fh() method that may fail for various reasons.

The legacy users of exportfs_encode_fh(), namely, nfsd and name_to_handle_at(2) syscall are ready to cope with the possibility of failure to encode a file handle.

There are a few other users of exportfs_encode_{fh,fid}() that currently have a WARN_ON() assertion when ->encode_fh() fails. Relax those assertions because they are wrong.

The second linked bug report states commit 16aac5ad1fa9 (ovl: support encoding non-decodable file handles) in v6.6 as the regressing commit, but this is not accurate.

The aforementioned commit only increases the chances of the assertion and allows triggering the assertion with the reproducer using overlayfs, inotify and drop_caches.

Triggering this assertion was always possible with other filesystems and other reasons of ->encode_fh() failures and more particularly, it was also possible with the exact same reproducer using overlayfs that is mounted with options index=on,nfs_export=on also on kernels < v6.6. Therefore, I am not listing the aforementioned commit as a Fixes commit.

Backport hint: this patch will have a trivial conflict applying to v6.6.y, and other trivial conflicts applying to stable kernels < v6.6.

Weakness

The product contains an assert() or similar statement that can be triggered by an attacker, which leads to an application exit or other behavior that is more severe than necessary.

Affected Software

Extended Description

While assertion is good for catching logic errors and reducing the chances of reaching more serious vulnerability conditions, it can still lead to a denial of service. For example, if a server handles multiple simultaneous connections, and an assert() occurs in one single connection that causes all other connections to be dropped, this is a reachable assertion that leads to a denial of service.

Potential Mitigations

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73697928c806fe4689939722184a86fc1c1957b4
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/974e3fe0ac61de85015bbe5a4990cf4127b304b2
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/adcde2872f8fc399b249758ae1990dcd53b694ea
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f47c834a9131ae64bee3c462f4e610c67b0a000f
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00008.html