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authorKumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com>2026-09-04 10:43:19 +0200
committerAlexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>2026-09-04 07:58:36 -0700
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tree58e8288fead484f6755ad0815fc74c3742663761 /Documentation/filesystems/failfs.rst
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selftests/bpf: Reject graph kptr use after RCU unlockgrafted
Add a sleepable verifier test that loads a graph-node local kptr in an explicit RCU read-side critical section, then passes its node to bpf_rbtree_remove() after the section ends. Before the verifier fix, the stale NON_OWN_REF flag makes the node look like a live borrowed reference and the program is accepted. After the fix, the pointer is demoted without NON_OWN_REF and the graph kfunc argument is rejected. Also exercise a graph kptr loaded while a spin lock provides implicit RCU protection. The pointer must be invalidated when the lock is released, which guards the required ordering between non-owning-reference invalidation and RCU demotion. Update the existing fault-protected load test state description. The post-unlock pointer no longer carries NON_OWN_REF, but remains readable because the load is rewritten to use BPF_PROBE_MEM. Signed-off-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260904084325.52250-7-memxor@gmail.com Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
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+.. 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.