[PATCH] ntfs3: reject direct userspace writes to reserved $LX* xattrs
Zhen Yan <[email protected]> Sun, 7 Jun 2026 10:33:39 +0800
| Newsgroups | dev.linux.lists.ntfs3,org.kernel.vger.linux-kernel |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
NTFS3 uses $LXUID, $LXGID, $LXMOD and $LXDEV as internal WSL permission metadata and reloads them into i_uid, i_gid and i_mode from ntfs_get_wsl_perm(). Because the empty-prefix xattr handler also lets file owners call setxattr() on these names directly, an unprivileged writer on a writable ntfs3 mount can plant root ownership and S_ISUID on their own file and gain euid 0 after inode reload. Reject direct userspace writes to the reserved $LX* names. Internal ntfs3 metadata updates are unchanged because ntfs_save_wsl_perm() writes them via ntfs_set_ea() directly. Signed-off-by: Zhen Yan <[email protected]> --- Willy, thanks for the review. Replying to your points: - Tested on v7.1-rc5: builds clean (W=1, no warnings), checkpatch clean, and the original reproducer no longer triggers -- the setxattr() calls now return -EPERM and uid/gid/mode survive an inode reload. Internal WSL metadata is unaffected: ntfs_save_wsl_perm() writes via ntfs_set_ea(), not ntfs_setxattr(). - Resent via git format-patch / git send-email so whitespace is no longer mangled, with no PoC in the body and security@ dropped. fs/ntfs3/xattr.c | 13 +++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+) diff --git a/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c b/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c index 9eeac0ab2..0bc633025 100644 --- a/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c +++ b/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c @@ -851,6 +851,14 @@ static int ntfs_getxattr(const struct xattr_handler *handler, struct dentry *de, return err; } +static bool ntfs_is_reserved_lxattr(const char *name) +{ + return !strcmp(name, "$LXUID") || + !strcmp(name, "$LXGID") || + !strcmp(name, "$LXMOD") || + !strcmp(name, "$LXDEV"); +} + /* * ntfs_setxattr - inode_operations::setxattr */ @@ -955,6 +963,11 @@ static noinline int ntfs_setxattr(const struct xattr_handler *handler, goto out; } + if (ntfs_is_reserved_lxattr(name)) { + err = -EPERM; + goto out; + } + /* Deal with NTFS extended attribute. */ err = ntfs_set_ea(inode, name, strlen(name), value, size, flags, 0, NULL); -- 2.25.1