Thread (4 messages) flat view 4 messages, 4 authors, 2026-07-04

Re: [PATCH] ext4: validate readdir offset before accessing dirent

From: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Date: 2026-07-03 15:43:27
Also in: lkml

On Fri 03-07-26 09:51:06, Yao Kai wrote:
A corrupted directory can trigger the following KASAN report when
ext4_readdir() resumes from an invalid position:

  BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in __ext4_check_dir_entry+0x5ef/0x820
  Read of size 2 at addr ffff88810a646000 by task repro_linear/509

  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   dump_stack_lvl+0x53/0x70
   print_report+0xd0/0x630
   kasan_report+0xce/0x100
   __ext4_check_dir_entry+0x5ef/0x820
   ext4_readdir+0xcde/0x2b70
   iterate_dir+0x1a1/0x520
   __x64_sys_getdents64+0x12b/0x220
   do_syscall_64+0xf9/0x540
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
   </TASK>

KASAN reports use-after-free because the out-of-bounds access lands in an
adjacent freed page. The directory buffer itself is still referenced.

ext4_dir_llseek() invalidates the directory cookie so that ext4_readdir()
rescans directory entries from the start of the block. The rescan checks
only the lower bound of rec_len before advancing. A corrupted rec_len can
therefore place the offset where the block has insufficient space for a
complete directory entry. The rescan itself may dereference that truncated
entry, or the main loop may pass it to __ext4_check_dir_entry(). The latter
reads de->rec_len before validating the range. For example:

  block offset  0                           4092  4096
                |---- de1.rec_len = 4092 -----|----|
                                               de2.inode
                                                    | de2.rec_len
                                                    ^ OOB, reported as UAF

de2 starts at offset 4092 in this 4 KiB block. Its four-byte inode fits in
the block, but its rec_len starts at offset 4096 and crosses the boundary.

The minimum safe length is inode-dependent. Encrypted and casefolded
directory entries need eight additional hash bytes, while a valid metadata
checksum tail is only 12 bytes.

Cache the metadata checksum feature state and derive the minimum directory
entry length from the on-disk format. Use it to bound both the rescan and
the offset passed to the main loop. Report an offset in a truncated block
tail and skip the remainder of the block, while continuing to accept an
offset exactly at the block boundary.

Reported-by: syzbot+5322c5c260eb44d209ed@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=5322c5c260eb44d209ed
Fixes: ac27a0ec112a ("[PATCH] ext4: initial copy of files from ext3")
Signed-off-by: Yao Kai <redacted>
Just one nit below. Feel free to add:

Reviewed-by: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
quoted hunk ↗ jump to hunk
@@ -257,6 +261,17 @@ static int ext4_readdir(struct file *file, struct dir_context *ctx)
 			info->cookie = inode_query_iversion(inode);
 		}
 
+		if (unlikely(offset < sb->s_blocksize &&
+			     offset > sb->s_blocksize -
+			     ext4_dir_rec_len(1, has_csum ? NULL : inode))) {
+			EXT4_ERROR_FILE(file, bh->b_blocknr,
+					"bad entry in directory: %s - offset=%u, size=%lu",
+					"directory entry too close to block end",
+					offset, sb->s_blocksize);
+			ctx->pos = (ctx->pos | (sb->s_blocksize - 1)) + 1;
				   ^^^ this is round_up(ctx->pos, sb->s_blocksize)

+			goto next_block;
+		}
+
 		while (ctx->pos < inode->i_size
 		       && offset < sb->s_blocksize) {
 			de = (struct ext4_dir_entry_2 *) (bh->b_data + offset);
								Honza
-- 
Jan Kara [off-list ref]
SUSE Labs, CR
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