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authorHaojie Li <lihaojie@kylinos.cn>2026-08-25 18:08:45 +0800
committerChun-Kuang Hu <chunkuang.hu@kernel.org>2026-09-28 23:20:55 +0000
commitbce7698e2e6565bb765bd0522337f29f5f312624 (patch)
tree0b735b7b4a27369cb4d75d9431b3ee59ce7e5bcc /Documentation/filesystems/failfs.rst
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drm/mediatek: Add missing IS_ERR check for ovl_adaptor platform devicegrafted
platform_device_register_data() can fail and return an ERR_PTR, but the return value is used without checking, leading to an invalid pointer being stored in ddp_comp[].dev and passed to component_match_add() and mtk_ddp_comp_init(), which could result in a kernel crash. Add an IS_ERR() check to jump to the error handling path on failure. Fixes: 0d9eee9118b7 ("drm/mediatek: Add drm ovl_adaptor sub driver for MT8195") Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Haojie Li <lihaojie@kylinos.cn> Reviewed-by: CK Hu <ck.hu@mediatek.com> Link: https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-mediatek/patch/20260825100845.438893-1-lihaojie@kylinos.cn/ Signed-off-by: Chun-Kuang Hu <chunkuang.hu@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.