[PATCH v2] selinux: preserve user SID across nested backing files

From: Karl Mehltretter

Date: Thu Aug 20 2026 - 14:24:27 EST


SELinux saves the user file SID in a backing-file security blob so it
remains available after mmap() replaces vma->vm_file with a backing file.

For nested backing files (overlayfs over overlayfs, or FUSE passthrough
backed by overlayfs), user_file may itself be a backing file. Its
fsec->sid is the SID of the mounter that opened it, rather than the user
that opened the top-level file. mprotect() then checks fd { use } against
the mounter SID. This can incorrectly deny access without a domain
transition, or check the wrong target SID after one.

Copy the saved user SID when user_file is a backing file. Keep using the
regular file SID for the first backing layer.

With two nested overlayfs mounts and SELinux enforcing,
mprotect(PROT_READ) returns EACCES with an fd { use } denial against the
mounter SID. With this change, mprotect() succeeds.

Fixes: 82544d36b172 ("selinux: fix overlayfs mmap() and mprotect() access checks")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Assisted-by: Codex:gpt-5.6-sol
Signed-off-by: Karl Mehltretter <kmehltretter@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes in v2:
- Add selinux_file_user_sid() helper instead of open-coding the lookup
(Amir).

Tested on arm64 QEMU at fd6e2388a3ea with SELinux enforcing and two
nested overlayfs mounts. The policy omitted only
base_t -> mounter_t:fd { use } among the relevant cross-domain allows:

baseline: mprotect(PROT_READ) returned EACCES with that denial
patched: mprotect(PROT_READ) succeeded; test exited 0

This patch fixes SID propagation only. backing_file_user_path() still
resolves to the middle layer for a nested mapping, so the audit path and
inode do not correspond to uf_sid, and that layer's mounter is not
re-checked. Preserving the full user path likely needs a VFS-side change,
such as having backing_file_open() store file_user_path(user_file).

security/selinux/hooks.c | 9 ++++++++-
security/selinux/include/objsec.h | 2 +-
2 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/security/selinux/hooks.c b/security/selinux/hooks.c
index 1ead2eee1944..171b90412ff1 100644
--- a/security/selinux/hooks.c
+++ b/security/selinux/hooks.c
@@ -3843,13 +3843,20 @@ static int selinux_file_alloc_security(struct file *file)
return 0;
}

+static inline u32 selinux_file_user_sid(const struct file *file)
+{
+ if (unlikely(file->f_mode & FMODE_BACKING))
+ return selinux_backing_file(file)->uf_sid;
+ return selinux_file(file)->sid;
+}
+
static int selinux_backing_file_alloc(struct file *backing_file,
const struct file *user_file)
{
struct backing_file_security_struct *bfsec;

bfsec = selinux_backing_file(backing_file);
- bfsec->uf_sid = selinux_file(user_file)->sid;
+ bfsec->uf_sid = selinux_file_user_sid(user_file);

return 0;
}
diff --git a/security/selinux/include/objsec.h b/security/selinux/include/objsec.h
index 3c0a16ec978b..853f7266ed18 100644
--- a/security/selinux/include/objsec.h
+++ b/security/selinux/include/objsec.h
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ struct file_security_struct {
};

struct backing_file_security_struct {
- u32 uf_sid; /* associated user file fsec->sid */
+ u32 uf_sid; /* top-level user file fsec->sid */
};

struct superblock_security_struct {

base-commit: fd6e2388a3ea55e58cbbbef840c1d8aa2067dbb3
--
2.39.5 (Apple Git-154)