CVE-2026-46052

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

ceph: only d_add() negative dentries when they are unhashed

Ceph can call d_add(dentry, NULL) on a negative dentry that is already present in the primary dcache hash.

In the current VFS that is not safe. d_add() goes through __d_add() to __d_rehash(), which unconditionally reinserts dentry->d_hash into the hlist_bl bucket. If the dentry is already hashed, reinserting the same node can corrupt the bucket, including creating a self-loop. Once that happens, __d_lookup() can spin forever in the hlist_bl walk, typically looping only on the d_name.hash mismatch check and eventually triggering RCU stall reports like this one:

rcu: INFO: rcu_sched self-detected stall on CPU rcu: 87-….: (2100 ticks this GP) idle=3a4c/1/0x4000000000000000 softirq=25003319/25003319 fqs=829 rcu: (t=2101 jiffies g=79058445 q=698988 ncpus=192) CPU: 87 UID: 2952868916 PID: 3933303 Comm: php-cgi8.3 Not tainted 6.18.17-i1-amd #950 NONE Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R7615/0G9DHV, BIOS 1.6.6 09/22/2023 RIP: 0010:__d_lookup+0x46/0xb0 Code: c1 e8 07 48 8d 04 c2 48 8b 00 49 89 fc 49 89 f5 48 89 c3 48 83 e3 fe 48 83 f8 01 77 0f eb 2d 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 8b 1b 48 85 db <74> 20 39 6b 18 75 f3 48 8d 7b 78 e8 ba 85 d0 00 4c 39 63 10 74 1f RSP: 0018:ff745a70c8253898 EFLAGS: 00000282 RAX: ff26e470054cb208 RBX: ff26e470054cb208 RCX: 000000006e958966 RDX: ff26e48267340000 RSI: ff745a70c82539b0 RDI: ff26e458f74655c0 RBP: 000000006e958966 R08: 0000000000000180 R09: 9cd08d909b919a89 R10: ff26e458f74655c0 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ff26e458f74655c0 R13: ff745a70c82539b0 R14: d0d0d0d0d0d0d0d0 R15: 2f2f2f2f2f2f2f2f FS: 00007f5770896980(0000) GS:ff26e482c5d88000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007f5764de50c0 CR3: 000000a72abb5001 CR4: 0000000000771ef0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: lookup_fast+0x9f/0x100 walk_component+0x1f/0x150 link_path_walk+0x20e/0x3d0 path_lookupat+0x68/0x180 filename_lookup+0xdc/0x1e0 vfs_statx+0x6c/0x140 vfs_fstatat+0x67/0xa0 __do_sys_newfstatat+0x24/0x60 do_syscall_64+0x6a/0x230 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

This is reachable with reused cached negative dentries. A Ceph lookup or atomic_open can be handed a negative dentry that is already hashed, and fs/ceph/dir.c then hits one of two paths that incorrectly assume negative also means unhashed:

• ceph_finish_lookup(): MDS reply is -ENOENT with no trace -> d_add(dentry, NULL)

• ceph_lookup(): local ENOENT fast path for a complete directory with shared caps -> d_add(dentry, NULL)

Both paths can therefore re-add an already-hashed negative dentry.

Ceph already uses the correct pattern elsewhere: ceph_fill_trace() only calls d_add(dn, NULL) for a negative null-dentry reply when d_unhashed(dn) is true.

Fix both fs/ceph/dir.c sites the same way: only call d_add() for a negative dentry when it is actually unhashed. If the negative dentry is already hashed, leave it in place and reuse it as-is.

This preserves the existing behavior for unhashed dentries while avoiding d_hash list corruption for reused hashed negatives.

Affected Software

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2010cb06b9df7d3c816c78358c566bdacbdf38ff
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4147ae08824cc8b65d2b2018f79d416af2937108
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4179cc390dacebc87079419ec92f86f3dc46294d
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73b47a1f06dee5e61b00dee5227d75d3f1f6d977
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/79ffcbeac6bc1dc1bcdb0434acf250f6215ec111
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/803447f93d75ab6e40c85e6d12b5630d281d70d6
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/83ce43a21bb7df8dd52228afdd918d2d058eefde
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b91e535f208c48a5e7464f1aa38338a30e7912df