[PATCH v2] ntfs: record an error when the ACL xattr undo fails
From: Hongling Zeng
Date: Sat Oct 03 2026 - 22:27:08 EST
ntfs_set_acl_ex() commits the new ACL xattr before it rewrites the WSL
mode EA, and removes it again when that rewrite fails. The removal is
best-effort: its result is discarded and the EA paths record no error
state, so when the removal fails too, the new, typically more
permissive, ACL is left on disk while i_mode, the mode EA and the
cached ACL keep the old values. Once the stale xattr is loaded again -
after a remount, or when the cached ACL is discarded - a chmod 0640 ->
0777 that reported failure leaves the file accessible to the relaxed
ACL while stat() still reports 0640.
Check the removal and record the failure: NVolSetErrors(), which the
next persistence point persists as VOLUME_IS_DIRTY, and a log message
the errors= policy acts on. The flag cannot be written to disk here
directly: the target inode's mrec_lock is held and the $Volume
mrec_lock cannot be nested under it.
Fixes: fc053f05ca28 ("ntfs: add reparse and ea operations")
Signed-off-by: Hongling Zeng <zenghongling@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Change in v2:
-undo only a committed set: undoing a removal returned -ENODATA for an
already-removed xattr and was recorded as a volume error, or re-added
an empty xattr once the removal had dropped the last EA
---
fs/ntfs/ea.c | 30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
1 file changed, 28 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/fs/ntfs/ea.c b/fs/ntfs/ea.c
index b4fcfbe2da4c..b3e079e2dc03 100644
--- a/fs/ntfs/ea.c
+++ b/fs/ntfs/ea.c
@@ -1084,8 +1084,34 @@ static noinline int ntfs_set_acl_ex(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
mutex_lock(&NTFS_I(inode)->mrec_lock);
err = ntfs_ea_set_wsl_inode(inode, 0, &ea_size, NTFS_EA_MODE);
if (err) {
- ntfs_set_ea(inode, name, name_len, NULL, 0,
- XATTR_REPLACE, NULL);
+ /*
+ * Only a set needs undoing: a removal leaves no
+ * new ACL behind, and repeating it would either
+ * return -ENODATA again or, once it dropped the
+ * last EA, re-create an empty xattr.
+ */
+ if (acl) {
+ int undo_err = ntfs_set_ea(inode, name, name_len,
+ NULL, 0, XATTR_REPLACE, NULL);
+
+ if (undo_err) {
+ /*
+ * The ACL xattr is committed
+ * already, so a failed removal
+ * leaves the new, typically more
+ * permissive, ACL on disk while
+ * i_mode, the mode EA and the
+ * cached ACL keep the old values.
+ * Record the error: the next
+ * persistence point persists it as
+ * VOLUME_IS_DIRTY. Run chkdsk.
+ */
+ NVolSetErrors(NTFS_I(inode)->vol);
+ ntfs_error(inode->i_sb,
+ "Failed to undo the ACL xattr: %d",
+ undo_err);
+ }
+ }
mutex_unlock(&NTFS_I(inode)->mrec_lock);
inode->i_mode = old_mode;
goto out;
--
2.25.1