Re: [PATCH] ovl: use linked upper dentry in copy-up tmpfile

On Sun, 3 May 2026 at 22:37, Amir Goldstein <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> On Sat, May 2, 2026 at 1:27 AM Souvik Banerjee <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > ovl_copy_up_tmpfile() stores the disconnected O_TMPFILE dentry as the
> > overlay's upper dentry reference via ovl_inode_update().  vfs_tmpfile()
> > allocated this dentry via d_alloc(parentpath->dentry, &slash_name), so
> > d_name is "/" and d_parent is c->workdir.  Local upper filesystems
> > (ext4, btrfs, xfs, ...) immediately rename it to "#<inum>" via
> > d_mark_tmpfile() inside their ->tmpfile() op; FUSE and virtiofs do
> > not, so both fields stay that way.  Neither identifies the destination
> > directory and filename where ovl_do_link() actually linked the file.
> >
> > When the upper filesystem implements ->d_revalidate() (e.g. FUSE or
> > virtiofs), ovl_revalidate_real() calls it with the dentry's parent
> > inode and a snapshot of d_name.  The server tries to look up "/" inside
> > c->workdir, fails, and overlayfs reports -ESTALE.
> >
> > This causes persistent ESTALE errors for any file that was copied up via
> > the tmpfile path, breaking dpkg, apt, and other tools that do
> > rename-over-existing on overlayfs with a FUSE/virtiofs upper.
> >
> > Before commit 6b52243f633e ("ovl: fold copy-up helpers into callers"),
> > the tmpfile copy-up path used a dedicated helper ovl_link_tmpfile()
> > that captured the linked destination dentry returned by ovl_do_link():
> >
> >     err = ovl_do_link(temp, udir, upper);
> >     ...
> >     if (!err)
> >         *newdentry = dget(upper);
> >
> > and published it via ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), newdentry).
> > The fold inlined ovl_do_link() into ovl_copy_up_tmpfile() but dropped
> > the dget(upper) capture, and rewrote the publish line as
> > ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), dget(temp)) — where temp is the
> > disconnected O_TMPFILE dentry.
> >
> > Fix by keeping a reference to the linked destination dentry after
> > ovl_do_link() succeeds, and publishing that dentry at the existing
> > ovl_inode_update() call site.  The non-tmpfile/workdir path continues to
> > publish the renamed temporary dentry.
> >
> > Reproducer:
> >   - Mount overlayfs with virtiofs (or a FUSE fs whose server advertises
> >     FUSE_TMPFILE) as upper
> >   - Run: dpkg -i <any .deb>
> >   - Observe: "error installing new file '...': Stale file handle"
> >
> > Fixes: 6b52243f633e ("ovl: fold copy-up helpers into callers")
> > Cc: [email protected] # v4.20+
> > Signed-off-by: Souvik Banerjee <[email protected]>
> > ---
> >  fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c | 12 ++++++++++--
> >  1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c b/fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c
> > index 13cb60b52bd6..e963701b4c87 100644
> > --- a/fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c
> > +++ b/fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c
> > @@ -853,7 +853,7 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_tmpfile(struct ovl_copy_up_ctx *c)
> >  {
> >         struct ovl_fs *ofs = OVL_FS(c->dentry->d_sb);
> >         struct inode *udir = d_inode(c->destdir);
> > -       struct dentry *temp, *upper;
> > +       struct dentry *temp, *upper, *newdentry = NULL;
> >         struct file *tmpfile;
> >         int err;
> >
> > @@ -889,6 +889,14 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_tmpfile(struct ovl_copy_up_ctx *c)
> >         err = PTR_ERR(upper);
> >         if (!IS_ERR(upper)) {
> >                 err = ovl_do_link(ofs, temp, udir, upper);
> > +               if (!err) {
> > +                       /*
> > +                        * Record the linked dentry -- not the disconnected
> > +                        * O_TMPFILE dentry -- so that ->d_revalidate() on
> > +                        * the upper fs sees the real parent/name.
> > +                        */
> > +                       newdentry = dget(upper);
> > +               }
> >                 end_creating(upper);
> >         }
> >
> > @@ -903,7 +911,7 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_tmpfile(struct ovl_copy_up_ctx *c)
> >
> >         if (!c->metacopy)
> >                 ovl_set_upperdata(d_inode(c->dentry));
> > -       ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), dget(temp));
> > +       ovl_inode_update(d_inode(c->dentry), newdentry);
> >
> >  out:
> >         ovl_end_write(c->dentry);
> > --
> > 2.51.1
> >
>
>
> Hi Souvik,
>
> Thank you for the analysis and the fix.
> Looks correct to me.
>
> Reviewed-by: Amir Goldstein <[email protected]>
>
> Christian,
>
> Could you pick this up for vfs-fixes?
> I do not have any other ovl fixes queued up.

Reviewed-by: Miklos Szeredi <[email protected]>

This seems to have slipped through the cracks.

Christian?

Thanks,
Miklos