[PATCH] kernfs: avoid iattr allocation in listxattr

From: Yichong Chen

Date: Fri Jul 31 2026 - 08:15:16 EST


kernfs_iop_listxattr() only needs to report existing xattrs, but it uses
kernfs_iattrs(), which allocates kernfs_iattrs when the node does not
have one yet.

This makes a query operation create persistent per-node metadata even
when the xattr list is empty.

Use kernfs_iattrs_noalloc() instead and return an empty list when no
iattrs exist.

Signed-off-by: Yichong Chen <chenyichong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/kernfs/inode.c | 4 ++--
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/kernfs/inode.c b/fs/kernfs/inode.c
index 2cb20294aaf5..237dcdd73fc2 100644
--- a/fs/kernfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/kernfs/inode.c
@@ -141,9 +141,9 @@ ssize_t kernfs_iop_listxattr(struct dentry *dentry, char *buf, size_t size)
struct kernfs_node *kn = kernfs_dentry_node(dentry);
struct kernfs_iattrs *attrs;

- attrs = kernfs_iattrs(kn);
+ attrs = kernfs_iattrs_noalloc(kn);
if (!attrs)
- return -ENOMEM;
+ return 0;

return simple_xattr_list(d_inode(dentry), &attrs->xattrs, buf, size);
}
--
2.51.0