[PATCH] sysfs: don't remove existing directory on update failure

From: Greg Kroah-Hartman

Date: Wed May 20 2026 - 09:13:42 EST


When sysfs_update_group() is called for a named group and create_files()
fails (e.g. -ENOMEM), internal_create_group() calls kernfs_remove(kn) on
the group directory. In the update path, kn was obtained via
kernfs_find_and_get() and refers to a directory that already existed
before this call. Removing it silently destroys a sysfs group that the
caller did not create.

Only remove the directory if we created it ourselves. On update failure
the directory remains as it is left empty by remove_files() inside
create_files(), but can be repopulated by a retry.

Cc: "Rafael J. Wysocki" <rafael@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Danilo Krummrich <dakr@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Rajat Jain <rajatja@xxxxxxxxxx>
Fixes: c855cf2759d2 ("sysfs: Fix internal_create_group() for named group updates")
Cc: stable <stable@xxxxxxxxxx>
Assisted-by: gkh_clanker_t1000
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/sysfs/group.c | 2 +-
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/fs/sysfs/group.c b/fs/sysfs/group.c
index 182e54e575ee..4e1e4f18a166 100644
--- a/fs/sysfs/group.c
+++ b/fs/sysfs/group.c
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ static int internal_create_group(struct kobject *kobj, int update,
kernfs_get(kn);
error = create_files(kn, kobj, uid, gid, grp, update);
if (error) {
- if (grp->name)
+ if (grp->name && !update)
kernfs_remove(kn);
}
kernfs_put(kn);
--
2.54.0