From: Zhen Yan <sdjasjbuaa@gmail.com>
To: Konstantin Komarov <almaz.alexandrovich@paragon-software.com>
Cc: ntfs3@lists.linux.dev, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] ntfs3: reject direct userspace writes to reserved $LX* xattrs
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 2026 10:33:39 +0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260607023339.6728-1-sdjasjbuaa@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <aiP-42fhOyMGK8Yg@1wt.eu>
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 $LX* names. Internal
ntfs3 metadata updates are unchanged because ntfs_save_wsl_perm()
writes them via ntfs_set_ea() directly.
Signed-off-by: Zhen Yan <sdjasjbuaa@gmail.com>
---
Willy, thanks for the review. Replying to your points:
- Tested on v7.1-rc5: builds clean (W=1, no warnings), checkpatch
clean, and the original reproducer no longer triggers -- the
setxattr() calls now return -EPERM and uid/gid/mode survive an
inode reload. Internal WSL metadata is unaffected:
ntfs_save_wsl_perm() writes via ntfs_set_ea(), not ntfs_setxattr().
- Resent via git format-patch / git send-email so whitespace is no
longer mangled, with no PoC in the body and security@ dropped.
fs/ntfs3/xattr.c | 13 +++++++++++++
1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)
diff --git a/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c b/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c
index 9eeac0ab2..0bc633025 100644
--- a/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c
@@ -851,6 +851,14 @@ static int ntfs_getxattr(const struct xattr_handler *handler, struct dentry *de,
return err;
}
+static bool ntfs_is_reserved_lxattr(const char *name)
+{
+ return !strcmp(name, "$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
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-06-07 2:33 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-06-06 10:57 [SECURITY] ntfs3: direct $LX* xattr writes can create a root SUID file sdj asj
2026-06-06 11:05 ` Willy Tarreau
2026-06-07 2:33 ` Zhen Yan [this message]
2026-06-10 10:42 ` [PATCH] ntfs3: reject direct userspace writes to reserved $LX* xattrs Konstantin Komarov
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