eventpoll: restore EP_UNACTIVE_PTR sentinel for ctx->tfile_check_listrefs/merge-window/c259ae4b4ae025450466b9dc324e64daec2f75db

Commit e09c77d94003 ("eventpoll: hoist CTL_ADD scratch state into
struct ep_ctl_ctx") moved tfile_check_list from a file-scope global into
the stack-allocated struct ep_ctl_ctx, and in doing so replaced the
EP_UNACTIVE_PTR sentinel with NULL on the grounds that "NULL is the
obvious 'empty' value and zero-init handles it for free", describing the
change as "No functional change". It is not.

epitems_head->next is overloaded with two roles:

  1. the "next" pointer that threads a head onto ctx->tfile_check_list;
  2. a membership flag: ep_remove_file() uses
     !smp_load_acquire(&v->next) to mean "this head is not on any
     pending ctx->tfile_check_list and is therefore safe to free".

Before that change the EP_UNACTIVE_PTR sentinel kept the two roles
disjoint: a head on the list always had a non-NULL ->next (another head,
or the sentinel at the tail), so ->next == NULL was equivalent to "never
listed". With the sentinel gone the list is NULL-terminated, so the tail
head's ->next is NULL as well. ep_remove_file()'s gate can no longer
distinguish "never listed" from "listed at the tail", and misfires on
the tail head.

The reader (reverse_path_check_proc) holds epnested_mutex +
rcu_read_lock; the freer (ep_remove_file) holds ep->mtx + file->f_lock.
The two sides share no mutex -- the sentinel was the invariant the gate
relied on to know it could skip the read side. With it gone,
ep_remove_file() frees the tail head while reverse_path_check_proc() is
still walking it, producing the slab-use-after-free read. The syzbot
reproducer hits this within seconds on a multi-CPU VM.

Restore the sentinel: initialize ctx.tfile_check_list to EP_UNACTIVE_PTR
in do_epoll_ctl_file(), and terminate the walk on "!= EP_UNACTIVE_PTR"
in reverse_path_check() and clear_tfile_check_list(). The tail head's
->next becomes the sentinel again rather than NULL, so
ep_remove_file()'s gate regains its exclusivity and stops misfiring on
the tail. ep_remove_file() itself is unchanged.

This restores the invariant the file-scope tfile_check_list relied on
before that change while preserving the ctx packaging it introduced.

Reported-by: syzbot+e70e1b6cba8714543f7c@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=e70e1b6cba8714543f7c
Fixes: e09c77d94003 ("eventpoll: hoist CTL_ADD scratch state into struct ep_ctl_ctx")
Suggested-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260528-rotwild-summt-kuhhandel-7276ef4c33b7@brauner.io/
Signed-off-by: Zhan Wei <zhanwei919@gmail.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260529142533.23696-1-zhanwei919@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) <brauner@kernel.org>

0 files changed, 0 insertions, 0 deletions