Commit 1fe989e1c42a for kernel
commit 1fe989e1c42a315c7e7918e7b812377137085036
Author: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
Date: Wed Apr 1 12:21:16 2026 +0200
kernfs: use namespace id instead of pointer for hashing and comparison
kernfs uses the namespace tag as both a hash seed (via init_name_hash())
and a comparison key in the rbtree. The resulting hash values are exposed
to userspace through directory seek positions (ctx->pos), and the raw
pointer comparisons in kernfs_name_compare() encode kernel pointer
ordering into the rbtree layout.
This constitutes a KASLR information leak since the hash and ordering
derived from kernel pointers can be observed from userspace.
Fix this by using the 64-bit namespace id (ns_common::ns_id) instead of
the raw pointer value for both hashing and comparison. The namespace id
is a stable, non-secret identifier that is already exposed to userspace
through other interfaces (e.g., /proc/pid/ns/, ioctl NS_GET_NSID).
Introduce kernfs_ns_id() as a helper that extracts the namespace id from
a potentially-NULL ns_common pointer, returning 0 for the no-namespace
case.
All namespace equality checks in the directory iteration and dentry
revalidation paths are also switched from pointer comparison to ns_id
comparison for consistency.
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
diff --git a/fs/kernfs/dir.c b/fs/kernfs/dir.c
index be262145ae08..f5cf1d74b5f1 100644
--- a/fs/kernfs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/kernfs/dir.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
#include <linux/slab.h>
#include <linux/security.h>
#include <linux/hash.h>
+#include <linux/ns_common.h>
#include "kernfs-internal.h"
@@ -306,6 +307,18 @@ struct kernfs_node *kernfs_get_parent(struct kernfs_node *kn)
return parent;
}
+/*
+ * kernfs_ns_id - return the namespace id for a given namespace
+ * @ns: namespace tag (may be NULL)
+ *
+ * Use the 64-bit namespace id instead of raw pointers for hashing
+ * and comparison to avoid leaking kernel addresses to userspace.
+ */
+static u64 kernfs_ns_id(const struct ns_common *ns)
+{
+ return ns ? ns->ns_id : 0;
+}
+
/**
* kernfs_name_hash - calculate hash of @ns + @name
* @name: Null terminated string to hash
@@ -316,7 +329,7 @@ struct kernfs_node *kernfs_get_parent(struct kernfs_node *kn)
static unsigned int kernfs_name_hash(const char *name,
const struct ns_common *ns)
{
- unsigned long hash = init_name_hash(ns);
+ unsigned long hash = init_name_hash(kernfs_ns_id(ns));
unsigned int len = strlen(name);
while (len--)
hash = partial_name_hash(*name++, hash);
@@ -333,13 +346,16 @@ static unsigned int kernfs_name_hash(const char *name,
static int kernfs_name_compare(unsigned int hash, const char *name,
const struct ns_common *ns, const struct kernfs_node *kn)
{
+ u64 ns_id = kernfs_ns_id(ns);
+ u64 kn_ns_id = kernfs_ns_id(kn->ns);
+
if (hash < kn->hash)
return -1;
if (hash > kn->hash)
return 1;
- if (ns < kn->ns)
+ if (ns_id < kn_ns_id)
return -1;
- if (ns > kn->ns)
+ if (ns_id > kn_ns_id)
return 1;
return strcmp(name, kernfs_rcu_name(kn));
}
@@ -1203,7 +1219,7 @@ static int kernfs_dop_revalidate(struct inode *dir, const struct qstr *name,
/* The kernfs node has been moved to a different namespace */
if (parent && kernfs_ns_enabled(parent) &&
- kernfs_info(dentry->d_sb)->ns != kn->ns)
+ kernfs_ns_id(kernfs_info(dentry->d_sb)->ns) != kernfs_ns_id(kn->ns))
goto out_bad;
up_read(&root->kernfs_rwsem);
@@ -1775,7 +1791,8 @@ int kernfs_rename_ns(struct kernfs_node *kn, struct kernfs_node *new_parent,
old_name = kernfs_rcu_name(kn);
if (!new_name)
new_name = old_name;
- if ((old_parent == new_parent) && (kn->ns == new_ns) &&
+ if ((old_parent == new_parent) &&
+ (kernfs_ns_id(kn->ns) == kernfs_ns_id(new_ns)) &&
(strcmp(old_name, new_name) == 0))
goto out; /* nothing to rename */
@@ -1861,7 +1878,8 @@ static struct kernfs_node *kernfs_dir_pos(const struct ns_common *ns,
}
}
/* Skip over entries which are dying/dead or in the wrong namespace */
- while (pos && (!kernfs_active(pos) || pos->ns != ns)) {
+ while (pos && (!kernfs_active(pos) ||
+ kernfs_ns_id(pos->ns) != kernfs_ns_id(ns))) {
struct rb_node *node = rb_next(&pos->rb);
if (!node)
pos = NULL;
@@ -1882,7 +1900,8 @@ static struct kernfs_node *kernfs_dir_next_pos(const struct ns_common *ns,
pos = NULL;
else
pos = rb_to_kn(node);
- } while (pos && (!kernfs_active(pos) || pos->ns != ns));
+ } while (pos && (!kernfs_active(pos) ||
+ kernfs_ns_id(pos->ns) != kernfs_ns_id(ns)));
}
return pos;
}