Re: [PATCH] ext4: turn off DAX on new files when encryption is set
From: Jan Kara
Date: Mon Jul 27 2026 - 15:06:51 EST
On Thu 23-07-26 14:26:48, Ojaswin Mujoo wrote:
> Currently, when setting the S_ENCRYPTED flag on a new regular inode in
> a -o dax=always mounted FS, we seem to be erroneously retaining the S_DAX
> flag. This is because the newly created inode ends up with the following:
>
> __ext4_new_inode()
> ext4_set_inode_flags(init=true) // sets S_DAX
> fscrypt_set_context()
> ext4_set_context()
> ext4_set_inode_flags(init=false) // sets S_ENCRYPTED but
> doesn't clears S_DAX
> ext4_set_aops
> inode->i_mapping->a_ops = &ext4_dax_aops;
>
> Due to the S_DAX flag, the excrypted inode gets ext4_dax_aops and it
> silently ends up bypassing encryption completely. This is reflected in
> multiple xfstests failures like generic/548. To fix this, ensure we disable
> S_DAX correctly when S_ENCRYPTED is being set on a newly created inode. It
> is safe to change DAX state there because ext4_set_aops() later can
> correctly detect S_DAX unset and assign the correct aops.
>
> The fix was actually the intended behavior however it seemed to have
> silently changed in 043546e46dc7.
>
> Fixes: 043546e46dc7 ("fs/ext4: Only change S_DAX on inode load")
> Reported-by: Disha Goel <disgoel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Ojaswin Mujoo <ojaswin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> fs/ext4/crypto.c | 15 +++++++++++----
> fs/ext4/inode.c | 10 ++++++----
> 2 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/fs/ext4/crypto.c b/fs/ext4/crypto.c
> index f41f320f4437..2d409114e02e 100644
> --- a/fs/ext4/crypto.c
> +++ b/fs/ext4/crypto.c
> @@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ static int ext4_set_context(struct inode *inode, const void *ctx, size_t len,
> {
> handle_t *handle = fs_data;
> int res, res2, credits, retries = 0;
> + bool init = S_ISREG(inode->i_mode);
Hum, I have some comments: IMHO the change is confusing because the meaning
of 'init' argument of ext4_set_inode_flags() doesn't mean the first setting
of flags any longer. And the reliance on ext4_set_context() getting called
in a safe place exactly for regular files is rather subtle as well.
Also does the change to ext4_set_inode_flags() really work? As far as I'm
reading the ext4 crypto implementation, I don't see where we'd be setting
EXT4_INODE_ENCRYPT for inodes with already enabled encryption (where we
load the context from xattrs through ext4_get_context()) and thus DAX would
still get enabled for such inodes? What am I missing?
Honza
> @@ -179,10 +180,16 @@ static int ext4_set_context(struct inode *inode, const void *ctx, size_t len,
> ext4_clear_inode_state(inode,
> EXT4_STATE_MAY_INLINE_DATA);
> /*
> - * Update inode->i_flags - S_ENCRYPTED will be enabled,
> - * S_DAX may be disabled
> + * Update inode->i_flags, S_ENCRYPTED will be enabled.
> + * If this is a regular inode, then we must be coming
> + * via __ext4_new_inode() as only new inodes can be
> + * encrypted, so we must set the init flag so
> + * S_DAX can be disabled. This is a bit fragile but
> + * seems like the easiest way to make sure we don't let
> + * the DAX flag linger when encryption is enabled as
> + * that result in writes silently bypassing encryption.
> */
> - ext4_set_inode_flags(inode, false);
> + ext4_set_inode_flags(inode, init);
> }
> return res;
> }
> @@ -209,7 +216,7 @@ static int ext4_set_context(struct inode *inode, const void *ctx, size_t len,
> * Update inode->i_flags - S_ENCRYPTED will be enabled,
> * S_DAX may be disabled
> */
> - ext4_set_inode_flags(inode, false);
> + ext4_set_inode_flags(inode, init);
> res = ext4_mark_inode_dirty(handle, inode);
> if (res)
> EXT4_ERROR_INODE(inode, "Failed to mark inode dirty");
> diff --git a/fs/ext4/inode.c b/fs/ext4/inode.c
> index ce99807c5f5b..a57179655353 100644
> --- a/fs/ext4/inode.c
> +++ b/fs/ext4/inode.c
> @@ -5113,8 +5113,6 @@ void ext4_set_inode_flags(struct inode *inode, bool init)
> unsigned int flags = EXT4_I(inode)->i_flags;
> unsigned int new_fl = 0;
>
> - WARN_ON_ONCE(IS_DAX(inode) && init);
> -
> if (flags & EXT4_SYNC_FL)
> new_fl |= S_SYNC;
> if (flags & EXT4_APPEND_FL)
> @@ -5129,8 +5127,12 @@ void ext4_set_inode_flags(struct inode *inode, bool init)
> /* Because of the way inode_set_flags() works we must preserve S_DAX
> * here if already set. */
> new_fl |= (inode->i_flags & S_DAX);
> - if (init && ext4_should_enable_dax(inode))
> - new_fl |= S_DAX;
> + if (init) {
> + if (ext4_should_enable_dax(inode))
> + new_fl |= S_DAX;
> + else
> + new_fl &= ~S_DAX;
> + }
>
> if (flags & EXT4_ENCRYPT_FL)
> new_fl |= S_ENCRYPTED;
> --
> 2.53.0
>
--
Jan Kara <jack@xxxxxxxx>
SUSE Labs, CR