[PATCH v5 02/10] vfs: prepare vfs_creat|mkdir_no_perm for reuse in lookup_open()

From: Jori Koolstra

Date: Sun Aug 23 2026 - 12:10:01 EST


To implement O_CREAT|O_DIRECTORY we will have to repeat some of the
logic that is now in vfs_mkdir() (e.g. do error checks in the same
order). Separate this out in vfs_mkdir_no_perm(), which does all the
non-permission related work of vfs_mkdir(). Permission checking for the
lookup_open() path is timed differently because we may just be doing an
open and no create. Similar considerations give rise to
vfs_create_no_perm().

Reviewed-by: NeilBrown <neil@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Jori Koolstra <jkoolstra@xxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/namei.c | 78 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------------
1 file changed, 54 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/namei.c b/fs/namei.c
index ab1302b38f46..229a5f7329f0 100644
--- a/fs/namei.c
+++ b/fs/namei.c
@@ -4166,6 +4166,24 @@ static inline umode_t vfs_prepare_mode(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
return mode;
}

+static inline
+int vfs_create_no_perm(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct dentry *dentry,
+ umode_t mode, struct delegated_inode *di)
+{
+ struct inode *dir = d_inode(dentry->d_parent);
+ int error;
+
+ error = try_break_deleg(dir, LEASE_BREAK_DIR_CREATE, di);
+ if (error)
+ return error;
+
+ error = dir->i_op->create(idmap, dir, dentry, mode);
+ if (!error)
+ fsnotify_create(dir, dentry);
+
+ return error;
+}
+
/**
* vfs_create - create new file
* @idmap: idmap of the mount the inode was found from
@@ -4198,13 +4216,8 @@ int vfs_create(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct dentry *dentry, umode_t mode,
error = security_inode_create(dir, dentry, mode);
if (error)
return error;
- error = try_break_deleg(dir, LEASE_BREAK_DIR_CREATE, di);
- if (error)
- return error;
- error = dir->i_op->create(idmap, dir, dentry, mode);
- if (!error)
- fsnotify_create(dir, dentry);
- return error;
+
+ return vfs_create_no_perm(idmap, dentry, mode, di);
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL(vfs_create);

@@ -4418,6 +4431,7 @@ static struct dentry *atomic_open(const struct path *path, struct dentry *dentry
dput(dentry);
dentry = ERR_PTR(error);
}
+
return dentry;
}

@@ -4544,6 +4558,7 @@ static struct dentry *lookup_open(struct nameidata *nd, struct file *file,
dentry = res;
}
}
+
if (dentry->d_inode || !(op->open_flag & O_CREAT)) {
/*
* No need to create a file. If lookup returned a positive
@@ -5358,6 +5373,34 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE3(mknod, const char __user *, filename, umode_t, mode, unsigned, d
return filename_mknodat(AT_FDCWD, name, mode, dev);
}

+/* Returns the dentry to use (not NULL) or -E on error */
+static inline
+struct dentry *vfs_mkdir_no_perm(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct inode *dir,
+ struct dentry *dentry, umode_t mode,
+ struct delegated_inode *di)
+{
+ int error;
+ struct dentry *de;
+ unsigned max_links = dir->i_sb->s_max_links;
+
+ if (max_links && dir->i_nlink >= max_links)
+ return ERR_PTR(-EMLINK);
+
+ error = try_break_deleg(dir, LEASE_BREAK_DIR_CREATE, di);
+ if (error)
+ return ERR_PTR(error);
+
+ de = dir->i_op->mkdir(idmap, dir, dentry, mode);
+ if (IS_ERR(de))
+ return de;
+ if (de) {
+ dput(dentry);
+ dentry = de;
+ }
+ fsnotify_mkdir(dir, dentry);
+ return dentry;
+}
+
/**
* vfs_mkdir - create directory returning correct dentry if possible
* @idmap: idmap of the mount the inode was found from
@@ -5385,7 +5428,6 @@ struct dentry *vfs_mkdir(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct inode *dir,
struct delegated_inode *delegated_inode)
{
int error;
- unsigned max_links = dir->i_sb->s_max_links;
struct dentry *de;

error = may_create_dentry(idmap, dir, dentry);
@@ -5401,24 +5443,12 @@ struct dentry *vfs_mkdir(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct inode *dir,
if (error)
goto err;

- error = -EMLINK;
- if (max_links && dir->i_nlink >= max_links)
- goto err;
-
- error = try_break_deleg(dir, LEASE_BREAK_DIR_CREATE, delegated_inode);
- if (error)
+ de = vfs_mkdir_no_perm(idmap, dir, dentry, mode, delegated_inode);
+ if (IS_ERR(de)) {
+ error = PTR_ERR(de);
goto err;
-
- de = dir->i_op->mkdir(idmap, dir, dentry, mode);
- error = PTR_ERR(de);
- if (IS_ERR(de))
- goto err;
- if (de) {
- dput(dentry);
- dentry = de;
}
- fsnotify_mkdir(dir, dentry);
- return dentry;
+ return de;

err:
end_creating(dentry);
--
2.55.0