linux.git/kernel/audit.h, branch v7.2-rc1 Linux kernel source tree audit: fix recursive locking deadlock in audit_dupe_exe() 2026-05-27T23:15:34+00:00 Ricardo Robaina rrobaina@redhat.com 2026-05-27T23:15:34+00:00 81905b5acbe77284734438df3fbec1158e6429a3 A deadlock occurs in the audit subsystem when duplicating executable-related rules. When a file is moved (e.g., via do_renameat2()), the VFS layer locks the parent directory (I_MUTEX_PARENT), which synchronously triggers an fsnotify_move event. If an existing executable audit rule matches the file being moved, the audit subsystem catches this event and calls audit_dupe_exe() to duplicate the watch and update the rule. Then, audit_alloc_mark() would call kern_path_parent() to resolve the path, leading to a blind attempt to acquire the exact same I_MUTEX_PARENT lock already held by the task, resulting in the following recursive locking deadlock: ============================================ WARNING: possible recursive locking detected 6.12.0-55.27.1.el10_0.x86_64+debug #1 Not tainted -------------------------------------------- mv/5099 is trying to acquire lock: ffff888132845358 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: __kern_path_locked+0x10a/0x2f0 but task is already holding lock: ffff888132846b58 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: lock_two_directories+0x13f/0x2b0 other info that might help us debug this: Possible unsafe locking scenario: CPU0 ---- lock(&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1); lock(&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1); *** DEADLOCK *** May be due to missing lock nesting notation 6 locks held by mv/5099: #0: ffff888112a9c440 (sb_writers#13) at: do_renameat2+0x34c/0xbc0 #1: ffff888112a9c790 (&type->s_vfs_rename_key#3) at: do_renameat2+0x415/0xbc0 #2: ffff888132846b58 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1) at: lock_two_directories+0x13f/0x2b0 #3: ffff888132845358 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/5) at: lock_two_directories+0x175/0x2b0 #4: ffffffffb3a1fb10 (&fsnotify_mark_srcu) at: fsnotify+0x454/0x28a0 #5: ffffffffaf886230 (audit_filter_mutex) at: audit_update_watch+0x36/0x11e0 stack backtrace: Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x6f/0xb0 print_deadlock_bug.cold+0xbd/0xca validate_chain+0x83a/0xf00 __lock_acquire+0xcac/0x1d20 lock_acquire.part.0+0x11b/0x360 down_write_nested+0x9f/0x230 __kern_path_locked+0x10a/0x2f0 kern_path_locked+0x26/0x40 audit_alloc_mark+0xfb/0x4f0 audit_dupe_exe+0x6c/0xe0 audit_dupe_rule+0x6c2/0xc00 audit_update_watch+0x4cc/0x11e0 audit_watch_handle_event+0x12c/0x1b0 send_to_group+0x5d0/0x8b0 fsnotify+0x615/0x28a0 fsnotify_move+0x1d8/0x630 vfs_rename+0xdcd/0x1df0 do_renameat2+0x9d4/0xbc0 __x64_sys_renameat+0x192/0x260 do_syscall_64+0x92/0x180 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e RIP: 0033:0x7f0491fe8c4e Code: 0f 1f 40 00 48 8b 15 c1 e1 16 00 f7 d8 64 89 02 b8 ff ff ff ff c3 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 49 89 ca b8 08 01 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 0a c3 66 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 48 8b 15 89 RSP: 002b:00007ffc7210bf38 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000108 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f0491fe8c4e RDX: 0000000000000003 RSI: 00007ffc7210e6c8 RDI: 00000000ffffff9c RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000001 R10: 00005575eb2dae2a R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00005575eb2dae2a R13: 00007ffc7210e6c8 R14: 0000000000000003 R15: 00000000ffffff9c </TASK> The aforementioned deadlock can be consistently reproduced by running the script below: audit-dupe-exe-deadlock.sh -------------------------- #!/bin/bash auditctl -D mkdir -p /tmp/foo touch /tmp/file auditctl -a always,exit -F exe=/tmp/file -F path=/tmp/file -S all -k dr mv /tmp/file /tmp/foo/file rm -Rf /tmp/foo This patch fixes the issue by introducing struct audit_watch_ctx to pass the fsnotify event context down to audit_alloc_mark(). By utilizing the already-resolved directory inode provided by the event, we bypass the kern_path_parent() path resolution entirely, safely avoiding the recursive lock. Furthermore, it explicitly allows duplicate fsnotify marks (allow_dups = 1) during the rename update, allowing the new rule's mark to safely coexist with the old rule's mark until the old rule is freed. P.S.: This issue was identified and reproduced during a comprehensive code coverage analysis of the audit subsystem. The full report is available at the link below: https://people.redhat.com/rrobaina/audit-code-coverage-analysis.pdf P.P.S: With the permission of both Ricardo and Nathan, I've squashed a fixup patch from Nathan that addresses a compile time error when CONFIG_AUDITSYSCALL=n. Cc: stable@kernel.org Fixes: 34d99af52ad4 ("audit: implement audit by executable") Acked-by: Waiman Long <longman@redhat.com> Acked-by: Richard Guy Briggs <rgb@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org> Signed-off-by: Ricardo Robaina <rrobaina@redhat.com> [PM: move link metadata into the msg, apply fix from NC] Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> 
A deadlock occurs in the audit subsystem when duplicating
executable-related rules.

When a file is moved (e.g., via do_renameat2()), the VFS layer locks
the parent directory (I_MUTEX_PARENT), which synchronously triggers an
fsnotify_move event. If an existing executable audit rule matches the
file being moved, the audit subsystem catches this event and calls
audit_dupe_exe() to duplicate the watch and update the rule. Then,
audit_alloc_mark() would call kern_path_parent() to resolve the path,
leading to a blind attempt to acquire the exact same I_MUTEX_PARENT lock
already held by the task, resulting in the following recursive locking
deadlock:

 ============================================
 WARNING: possible recursive locking detected
 6.12.0-55.27.1.el10_0.x86_64+debug #1 Not tainted
 --------------------------------------------
 mv/5099 is trying to acquire lock:
 ffff888132845358 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1){+.+.}-{3:3},
 at: __kern_path_locked+0x10a/0x2f0

 but task is already holding lock:
 ffff888132846b58 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1){+.+.}-{3:3},
 at: lock_two_directories+0x13f/0x2b0

 other info that might help us debug this:
  Possible unsafe locking scenario:

        CPU0
        ----
   lock(&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1);
   lock(&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1);

  *** DEADLOCK ***

  May be due to missing lock nesting notation

  6 locks held by mv/5099:
  #0: ffff888112a9c440 (sb_writers#13)
  at: do_renameat2+0x34c/0xbc0
  #1: ffff888112a9c790 (&type->s_vfs_rename_key#3)
  at: do_renameat2+0x415/0xbc0
  #2: ffff888132846b58 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1)
  at: lock_two_directories+0x13f/0x2b0
  #3: ffff888132845358 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/5)
  at: lock_two_directories+0x175/0x2b0
  #4: ffffffffb3a1fb10 (&fsnotify_mark_srcu)
  at: fsnotify+0x454/0x28a0
  #5: ffffffffaf886230 (audit_filter_mutex)
  at: audit_update_watch+0x36/0x11e0

 stack backtrace:
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  dump_stack_lvl+0x6f/0xb0
  print_deadlock_bug.cold+0xbd/0xca
  validate_chain+0x83a/0xf00
  __lock_acquire+0xcac/0x1d20
  lock_acquire.part.0+0x11b/0x360
  down_write_nested+0x9f/0x230
  __kern_path_locked+0x10a/0x2f0
  kern_path_locked+0x26/0x40
  audit_alloc_mark+0xfb/0x4f0
  audit_dupe_exe+0x6c/0xe0
  audit_dupe_rule+0x6c2/0xc00
  audit_update_watch+0x4cc/0x11e0
  audit_watch_handle_event+0x12c/0x1b0
  send_to_group+0x5d0/0x8b0
  fsnotify+0x615/0x28a0
  fsnotify_move+0x1d8/0x630
  vfs_rename+0xdcd/0x1df0
  do_renameat2+0x9d4/0xbc0
  __x64_sys_renameat+0x192/0x260
  do_syscall_64+0x92/0x180
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
 RIP: 0033:0x7f0491fe8c4e
 Code: 0f 1f 40 00 48 8b 15 c1 e1 16 00 f7 d8 64 89 02 b8 ff ff ff ff
 c3 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 49 89 ca b8 08 01 00 00 0f 05 <48>
 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 0a c3 66 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 48 8b 15 89
 RSP: 002b:00007ffc7210bf38 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000108
 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f0491fe8c4e
 RDX: 0000000000000003 RSI: 00007ffc7210e6c8 RDI: 00000000ffffff9c
 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000001
 R10: 00005575eb2dae2a R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00005575eb2dae2a
 R13: 00007ffc7210e6c8 R14: 0000000000000003 R15: 00000000ffffff9c
  </TASK>

The aforementioned deadlock can be consistently reproduced by running
the script below:

 audit-dupe-exe-deadlock.sh
 --------------------------
 #!/bin/bash
 auditctl -D
 mkdir -p /tmp/foo
 touch /tmp/file
 auditctl -a always,exit -F exe=/tmp/file -F path=/tmp/file -S all -k dr
 mv /tmp/file /tmp/foo/file
 rm -Rf /tmp/foo

This patch fixes the issue by introducing struct audit_watch_ctx to pass
the fsnotify event context down to audit_alloc_mark(). By utilizing the
already-resolved directory inode provided by the event, we bypass the
kern_path_parent() path resolution entirely, safely avoiding the
recursive lock. Furthermore, it explicitly allows duplicate fsnotify
marks (allow_dups = 1) during the rename update, allowing the new rule's
mark to safely coexist with the old rule's mark until the old rule is
freed.

P.S.: This issue was identified and reproduced during a comprehensive
code coverage analysis of the audit subsystem. The full report is
available at the link below:

https://people.redhat.com/rrobaina/audit-code-coverage-analysis.pdf

P.P.S: With the permission of both Ricardo and Nathan, I've squashed a
fixup patch from Nathan that addresses a compile time error when
CONFIG_AUDITSYSCALL=n.

Cc: stable@kernel.org
Fixes: 34d99af52ad4 ("audit: implement audit by executable")
Acked-by: Waiman Long <longman@redhat.com>
Acked-by: Richard Guy Briggs <rgb@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Ricardo Robaina <rrobaina@redhat.com>
[PM: move link metadata into the msg, apply fix from NC]
Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
audit: use 'unsigned int' instead of 'unsigned' 2026-05-26T21:15:30+00:00 Ricardo Robaina rrobaina@redhat.com 2026-05-14T15:13:20+00:00 8b226771014beab1292081151a99530886ce54b4 Address checkpatch.pl warning below, across the audit subsystem: WARNING: Prefer 'unsigned int' to bare use of 'unsigned' Minor cleanup, no functional changes. Signed-off-by: Ricardo Robaina <rrobaina@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> 
Address checkpatch.pl warning below, across the audit subsystem:

  WARNING: Prefer 'unsigned int' to bare use of 'unsigned'

Minor cleanup, no functional changes.

Signed-off-by: Ricardo Robaina <rrobaina@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
audit: widen ino fields to u64 2026-03-06T13:31:26+00:00 Jeff Layton jlayton@kernel.org 2026-03-04T15:32:32+00:00 125dfa218134df7cc112667e92984de9d8cd0bf6 inode->i_ino is being widened from unsigned long to u64. The audit subsystem uses unsigned long ino in struct fields, function parameters, and local variables that store inode numbers from arbitrary filesystems. On 32-bit platforms this truncates inode numbers that exceed 32 bits, which will cause incorrect audit log entries and broken watch/mark comparisons. Widen all audit ino fields, parameters, and locals to u64, and update the inode format string from %lu to %llu to match. Signed-off-by: Jeff Layton <jlayton@kernel.org> Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260304-iino-u64-v3-2-2257ad83d372@kernel.org Acked-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org> 
inode->i_ino is being widened from unsigned long to u64. The audit
subsystem uses unsigned long ino in struct fields, function parameters,
and local variables that store inode numbers from arbitrary filesystems.
On 32-bit platforms this truncates inode numbers that exceed 32 bits,
which will cause incorrect audit log entries and broken watch/mark
comparisons.

Widen all audit ino fields, parameters, and locals to u64, and update
the inode format string from %lu to %llu to match.

Signed-off-by: Jeff Layton <jlayton@kernel.org>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260304-iino-u64-v3-2-2257ad83d372@kernel.org
Acked-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
audit: fix comment misindentation in audit.h 2025-10-22T23:28:06+00:00 Ricardo Robaina rrobaina@redhat.com 2025-10-08T14:27:19+00:00 4f7b54e17eddac93c78151ffc80b8437ab11c90b Minor comment misindentation adjustment. Signed-off-by: Ricardo Robaina <rrobaina@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> 
Minor comment misindentation adjustment.

Signed-off-by: Ricardo Robaina <rrobaina@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
audit: create audit_stamp structure 2025-08-30T14:15:28+00:00 Casey Schaufler casey@schaufler-ca.com 2025-08-16T17:28:56+00:00 0a561e3904a92492fee8e02a9f69276e939fd990 Replace the timestamp and serial number pair used in audit records with a structure containing the two elements. Signed-off-by: Casey Schaufler <casey@schaufler-ca.com> [PM: subj tweak] Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> 
Replace the timestamp and serial number pair used in audit records
with a structure containing the two elements.

Signed-off-by: Casey Schaufler <casey@schaufler-ca.com>
[PM: subj tweak]
Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
audit,module: restore audit logging in load failure case 2025-06-16T21:00:06+00:00 Richard Guy Briggs rgb@redhat.com 2025-06-13T19:58:00+00:00 ae1ae11fb277f1335d6bcd4935ba0ea985af3c32 The move of the module sanity check to earlier skipped the audit logging call in the case of failure and to a place where the previously used context is unavailable. Add an audit logging call for the module loading failure case and get the module name when possible. Link: https://issues.redhat.com/browse/RHEL-52839 Fixes: 02da2cbab452 ("module: move check_modinfo() early to early_mod_check()") Signed-off-by: Richard Guy Briggs <rgb@redhat.com> Reviewed-by: Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@suse.com> Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> 
The move of the module sanity check to earlier skipped the audit logging
call in the case of failure and to a place where the previously used
context is unavailable.

Add an audit logging call for the module loading failure case and get
the module name when possible.

Link: https://issues.redhat.com/browse/RHEL-52839
Fixes: 02da2cbab452 ("module: move check_modinfo() early to early_mod_check()")
Signed-off-by: Richard Guy Briggs <rgb@redhat.com>
Reviewed-by: Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@suse.com>
Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
audit: change context data from secid to lsm_prop 2024-10-11T18:34:16+00:00 Casey Schaufler casey@schaufler-ca.com 2024-10-09T17:32:19+00:00 13d826e564e2ccae9df0caac8a3deb40dc4c8fda Change the LSM data stored in the audit transactions from a secid to an LSM prop. This is done in struct audit_context and struct audit_aux_data_pids. Several cases of scaffolding can be removed. Signed-off-by: Casey Schaufler <casey@schaufler-ca.com> [PM: subj line tweak] Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> 
Change the LSM data stored in the audit transactions from a secid
to an LSM prop. This is done in struct audit_context and struct
audit_aux_data_pids. Several cases of scaffolding can be removed.

Signed-off-by: Casey Schaufler <casey@schaufler-ca.com>
[PM: subj line tweak]
Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
audit: use an lsm_prop in audit_names 2024-10-11T18:34:15+00:00 Casey Schaufler casey@schaufler-ca.com 2024-10-09T17:32:17+00:00 e0a8dcbd53b646d8535acd9fec95540275231b13 Replace the osid field in the audit_names structure with a lsm_prop structure. This accommodates the use of an lsm_prop in security_audit_rule_match() and security_inode_getsecid(). Signed-off-by: Casey Schaufler <casey@schaufler-ca.com> [PM: subj line tweak] Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> 
Replace the osid field in the audit_names structure with a
lsm_prop structure. This accommodates the use of an lsm_prop in
security_audit_rule_match() and security_inode_getsecid().

Signed-off-by: Casey Schaufler <casey@schaufler-ca.com>
[PM: subj line tweak]
Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
audit: maintain an lsm_prop in audit_context 2024-10-11T18:34:13+00:00 Casey Schaufler casey@schaufler-ca.com 2024-10-09T17:32:12+00:00 7183abccd8ac2c486363e267b5d84032818eb725 Replace the secid value stored in struct audit_context with a struct lsm_prop. Change the code that uses this value to accommodate the change. security_audit_rule_match() expects a lsm_prop, so existing scaffolding can be removed. A call to security_secid_to_secctx() is changed to security_lsmprop_to_secctx(). The call to security_ipc_getsecid() is scaffolded. A new function lsmprop_is_set() is introduced to identify whether an lsm_prop contains a non-zero value. Signed-off-by: Casey Schaufler <casey@schaufler-ca.com> [PM: subject line tweak, fix lsmprop_is_set() typo] Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> 
Replace the secid value stored in struct audit_context with a struct
lsm_prop. Change the code that uses this value to accommodate the
change. security_audit_rule_match() expects a lsm_prop, so existing
scaffolding can be removed. A call to security_secid_to_secctx()
is changed to security_lsmprop_to_secctx().  The call to
security_ipc_getsecid() is scaffolded.

A new function lsmprop_is_set() is introduced to identify whether
an lsm_prop contains a non-zero value.

Signed-off-by: Casey Schaufler <casey@schaufler-ca.com>
[PM: subject line tweak, fix lsmprop_is_set() typo]
Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
audit: correct audit_filter_inodes() definition 2023-07-21T16:17:25+00:00 Xiu Jianfeng xiujianfeng@huawei.com 2023-07-21T11:21:01+00:00 bf98354280bff22bc9e57c698d485c9e1c0b04f3 After changes in commit 0590b9335a1c ("fixing audit rule ordering mess, part 1"), audit_filter_inodes() returns void, so if CONFIG_AUDITSYSCALL not defined, it should be do {} while(0). Signed-off-by: Xiu Jianfeng <xiujianfeng@huawei.com> Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> 
After changes in commit 0590b9335a1c ("fixing audit rule ordering mess,
part 1"), audit_filter_inodes() returns void, so if CONFIG_AUDITSYSCALL
not defined, it should be do {} while(0).

Signed-off-by: Xiu Jianfeng <xiujianfeng@huawei.com>
Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>