summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/filesystems/failfs.rst
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorKees Cook <kees+treewide@kernel.org>2026-09-02 15:31:14 -0700
committerKees Cook <kees@kernel.org>2026-09-04 21:37:00 -0700
commit3a2c4d55e32ad65efebdb6de44eef3bfa08bb49d (patch)
treec65086f9bdcd48c6360fb7cb4598bca084da1f32 /Documentation/filesystems/failfs.rst
downloadlinux-stable-3a2c4d55e32ad65efebdb6de44eef3bfa08bb49d.tar.gz
linux-stable-3a2c4d55e32ad65efebdb6de44eef3bfa08bb49d.zip
treewide: refresh kmalloc_obj() conversionsgrafted
This is another run of the Coccinelle script for converting kmalloc() family of allocations to kmalloc_obj() via the existing rules in scripts/coccinelle/api/kmalloc_objs.cocci This catches both the set of kmalloc() uses added since the first kmalloc_obj() conversions in v7.0 and adds a large group missed in the first pass due to Coccinelle not interacting well with the cleanup.h scoped_...() family of macros[1]. I worked around this with spatch's "--macro-file" argument to a file with all the scoped_...() macros mapped to Coccinelle's YACFE_ITERATOR[2] as that was the closest viable control flow indicator I could find. Build tested allmodconfig on x86, arm64, arm, loongarch, mips, powerpc, riscv, and s390 with no new warnings. Link: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/202609021314.8A9C0B8@keescook/ [1] Link: https://github.com/coccinelle/coccinelle/blob/master/standard.h [2] Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <kees+treewide@kernel.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems/failfs.rst')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/filesystems/failfs.rst73
1 files changed, 73 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/failfs.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/failfs.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..21ff2db79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/failfs.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+======
+failfs
+======
+
+failfs is a kernel-internal filesystem that fails every operation
+reaching it with ``EOPNOTSUPP``. It is the counterpart to nullfs. Where
+nullfs is permanently empty, failfs means "nothing is supported here".
+It cannot be mounted from userspace, nothing can be mounted on top of
+it. It cannot be cloned.
+
+The only way into it is the ``FD_FAILFS_ROOT`` file descriptor sentinel which
+is understood by ``fchdir(2)`` and ``fchroot(2)``.
+
+Semantics
+=========
+
+Every path walk of a component through failfs fails with
+``EOPNOTSUPP`` before that component is parsed, including ``.``.
+
+No path lookup can open the root, not even with ``O_PATH``.
+
+A process with its working directory in failfs fails every
+``AT_FDCWD``-relative lookup. As with any working directory that is
+unreachable from the process root, the ``getcwd(2)`` system call returns
+a path prefixed with ``(unreachable)``.
+
+A process with its root directory in failfs fails every absolute path
+lookup including absolute symlinks and the interpreter of dynamically
+linked binaries. In other words, this fails exec.
+
+Lookups anchored at explicit directory file descriptors keep working. It
+is the ``fs_struct`` equivalent of ``RESOLVE_BENEATH``. The process must
+anchor every lookup at a file descriptor it explicitly holds.
+
+Entering
+========
+
+``fchroot(FD_FAILFS_ROOT, 0)`` requires ``CAP_SYS_CHROOT`` in the
+caller's user namespace, mirroring ``chroot(2)``. Unprivileged callers
+may enter if all of the following hold:
+
+* ``no_new_privs`` is set: setuid binaries on regular mounts remain
+ reachable via inherited directory file descriptors and executing them
+ with an unusable root directory is the classic confused deputy.
+
+* The caller is not already chrooted: the root directory is what
+ confines ``..`` resolution and the failfs root can never be reached by
+ walking up a real mount tree, so moving the root of a chrooted task to
+ failfs would allow it to escape its chroot via ``openat(fd, "..")``.
+
+* The caller does not share its ``fs_struct``: ``no_new_privs`` is
+ checked on the calling thread, but the root lives in the ``fs_struct``.
+ A ``CLONE_FS`` sibling without ``no_new_privs`` could otherwise execute
+ a setuid binary with the failfs root, so entry requires ``fs->users ==
+ 1``, the same restriction ``setns(2)`` applies for the mount and user
+ namespaces.
+
+Leaving
+=======
+
+Backing out is currently hard, but this is a property of the current
+implementation, not a guaranteed interface, and may be loosened later.
+For now a process that entered failfs counts as chrooted, so it cannot
+create user namespaces to regain ``CAP_SYS_CHROOT``, and ``chroot(2)``
+or ``fchroot(2)`` back out require ``CAP_SYS_CHROOT``. The remaining way
+out today is ``setns(2)`` with a mount namespace file descriptor, which
+requires ``CAP_SYS_ADMIN`` over the target mount namespace as well as
+``CAP_SYS_CHROOT`` and ``CAP_SYS_ADMIN`` in the caller's user namespace
+and resets both root and working directory. A process that holds no such
+file descriptor and restricts ``*chdir()``/``*chroot()``/``setns()`` via
+seccomp cannot currently get back out.