[PATCH] cifs: Fix busy dentry used after unmounting

From: Zhihao Cheng

Date: Tue May 19 2026 - 05:28:16 EST


Since commit 340cea84f691c ("cifs: open files should not hold ref on
superblock"), cifs file only holds the dentry ref_cnt, the cifs file
close work(cfile->deferred) could be executed after unmounting, which
will trigger a warning in generic_shutdown_super:
BUG: Dentry 00000000a14a6845{i=c,n=file} still in use (1) [unmount of
cifs cifs]

The detailed processs is:
process A process B kworker
fd = open(PATH)
vfs_open
file->__f_path = *path // dentry->d_lockref.count = 1
cifs_open
cifs_new_fileinfo
cfile->dentry = dget(dentry) // dentry->d_lockref.count = 2
close(fd)
__fput
cifs_close
queue_delayed_work(deferredclose_wq, cfile->deferred)
dput(dentry) // dentry->d_lockref.count = 1
smb2_deferred_work_close
_cifsFileInfo_put
list_del(&cifs_file->flist)
umount
cleanup_mnt
deactivate_super
cifs_kill_sb
cifs_close_all_deferred_files_sb
cifs_close_all_deferred_files
// cannot find cfile, skip _cifsFileInfo_put
kill_anon_super
generic_shutdown_super
shrink_dcache_for_umount
umount_check
WARN ! // dentry->d_lockref.count = 1
cifsFileInfo_put_final
dput(cifs_file->dentry)
// dentry->d_lockref.count = 0

Fix it by flushing 'deferredclose_wq' before calling kill_anon_super.

Fetch a reproducer in https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=221548.

Fixes: 340cea84f691c ("cifs: open files should not hold ref on superblock")
Signed-off-by: Zhihao Cheng <chengzhihao1@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/smb/client/cifsfs.c | 2 ++
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/fs/smb/client/cifsfs.c b/fs/smb/client/cifsfs.c
index f557eb7875c7..ce23924f01b3 100644
--- a/fs/smb/client/cifsfs.c
+++ b/fs/smb/client/cifsfs.c
@@ -306,6 +306,8 @@ static void cifs_kill_sb(struct super_block *sb)

/* Wait for all pending oplock breaks to complete */
flush_workqueue(cifsoplockd_wq);
+ /* Wait for all opened files to release */
+ flush_workqueue(deferredclose_wq);

/* finally release root dentry */
dput(cifs_sb->root);
--
2.52.0