[PATCH v3 3/3] debugfs: make debugfs_create_str() read-only

From: Yichong Chen

Date: Fri Aug 07 2026 - 06:09:43 EST


debugfs_create_str() supports replacing the backing string from userspace.
Concurrent writers can race and free the same old string twice.

All writable in-tree users have been converted to local file operations.
Remove the generic write support from debugfs_create_str(), and refuse to
create a file when the caller passes write permission bits.

This makes unsupported writable use visible instead of silently creating a
file with different permissions.

Fixes: 86b5488121db ("debugfs: Add write support to debugfs_create_str()")
Signed-off-by: Yichong Chen <chenyichong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/debugfs/file.c | 81 ++++++-----------------------------------------
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 71 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/debugfs/file.c b/fs/debugfs/file.c
index 08de6652a4f3..170feb75317f 100644
--- a/fs/debugfs/file.c
+++ b/fs/debugfs/file.c
@@ -1049,98 +1049,37 @@ ssize_t debugfs_read_file_str(struct file *file, char __user *user_buf,
return ret;
}

-static ssize_t debugfs_write_file_str(struct file *file, const char __user *user_buf,
- size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
-{
- struct dentry *dentry = F_DENTRY(file);
- char *old, *new = NULL;
- int pos = *ppos;
- int r;
-
- r = debugfs_file_get(dentry);
- if (unlikely(r))
- return r;
-
- old = *(char **)file->private_data;
-
- /* only allow strict concatenation */
- r = -EINVAL;
- if (pos && pos != strlen(old))
- goto error;
-
- r = -E2BIG;
- if (pos + count + 1 > PAGE_SIZE)
- goto error;
-
- r = -ENOMEM;
- new = kmalloc(pos + count + 1, GFP_KERNEL);
- if (!new)
- goto error;
-
- if (pos)
- memcpy(new, old, pos);
-
- r = -EFAULT;
- if (copy_from_user(new + pos, user_buf, count))
- goto error;
-
- new[pos + count] = '\0';
- strim(new);
-
- rcu_assign_pointer(*(char __rcu **)file->private_data, new);
- synchronize_rcu();
- kfree(old);
-
- debugfs_file_put(dentry);
- return count;
-
-error:
- kfree(new);
- debugfs_file_put(dentry);
- return r;
-}
-
static const struct file_operations fops_str = {
.read = debugfs_read_file_str,
- .write = debugfs_write_file_str,
- .open = simple_open,
- .llseek = default_llseek,
-};
-
-static const struct file_operations fops_str_ro = {
- .read = debugfs_read_file_str,
- .open = simple_open,
- .llseek = default_llseek,
-};
-
-static const struct file_operations fops_str_wo = {
- .write = debugfs_write_file_str,
.open = simple_open,
.llseek = default_llseek,
};

/**
- * debugfs_create_str - create a debugfs file that is used to read and write a string value
+ * debugfs_create_str - create a debugfs file that is used to read a string value
* @name: a pointer to a string containing the name of the file to create.
* @mode: the permission that the file should have
* @parent: a pointer to the parent dentry for this file. This should be a
* directory dentry if set. If this parameter is %NULL, then the
* file will be created in the root of the debugfs filesystem.
- * @value: a pointer to the variable that the file should read to and write
- * from. This pointer and the string it points to must not be %NULL.
+ * @value: a pointer to the variable that the file should read from. This
+ * pointer and the string it points to must not be %NULL.
*
* This function creates a file in debugfs with the given name that
- * contains the value of the variable @value. If the @mode variable is so
- * set, it can be read from, and written to.
+ * contains the value of the variable @value. The file can be read from.
+ * Writable files are not supported; if @mode contains write permission bits,
+ * no file is created.
*/
void debugfs_create_str(const char *name, umode_t mode,
struct dentry *parent, char **value)
{
if (WARN_ON(!value || !*value))
return;
+ if (WARN(mode & 0222,
+ "%s() does not support writable files\n", __func__))
+ return;

- debugfs_create_mode_unsafe(name, mode, parent, value, &fops_str,
- &fops_str_ro, &fops_str_wo);
+ debugfs_create_file_unsafe(name, mode, parent, value, &fops_str);
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(debugfs_create_str);

--
2.51.0