[PATCH v2 0/6] KEYS: From assoc_array to rhashtable migration

From: Jarkko Sakkinen

Date: Fri Oct 23 2026 - 08:28:20 EST


The keyring subsystem depends on assoc_array for searching keys by their
description, type and domain. It is the sole user of this data structure,
which has during the age of LLMs transformed into a maintenance nightmare.

assoc_array needs to be replaced with a data structure meeting the
following criteria:

1. Must be suitable for a sparse key-value store.
2. Must have multiple in-kernel users.
3. Would be nice if it had dedicated maintainers.

rhashtable is likely the best pick from the available options as it is
designed for a sparse key space, has dedicated maintainers, and multiple
in-kernel users.

CHANGES
=======

v2:
- Tried to address all the issues pointed out by David and Eric. Tell me
if something was ignored, as that would be an unintentional mishap.
- Updated and trimmed the source code comments.
- For assoc_array_edit I decided to go with two-element pointer array,
which shifts a bit what David suggested.
- Dropped is_keyring flag. It was so obvious call so I mention it here
just in case because too obvious maxes out my self-doubt ;-)
- Used cleanup.h primitives where I possibly could especially in order
to make fallible initializations more bug-resistant.
- The already-ack'd bug fixes are included but will be dropped as soon
as I've sent them over to Linus.

VERSIONS
========

- v2:
https://lore.kernel.org/keyrings/20261016215326.4110064-1-jarkko@xxxxxxxxxx/`

Jarkko Sakkinen (6):
KEYS: Expand key->{datalen,quotalen} to unsigned int
KEYS: Reject descriptions larger than KEY_MAX_DESC_SIZE
KEYS: Verify the key identity in __key_unlink_begin
KEYS: Introduce keyring_is_empty()
KEYS: Replace assoc_array with rhashtable
lib: Remove assoc_array

Documentation/core-api/assoc_array.rst | 564 ------
Documentation/core-api/index.rst | 1 -
.../zh_CN/core-api/assoc_array.rst | 473 -----
.../translations/zh_CN/core-api/index.rst | 1 -
drivers/md/dm-verity-verify-sig.c | 2 +-
fs/smb/client/cifsacl.c | 6 +-
fs/verity/signature.c | 2 +-
include/keys/keyring-type.h | 1 -
include/linux/assoc_array.h | 88 -
include/linux/assoc_array_priv.h | 178 --
include/linux/key.h | 27 +-
lib/Kconfig | 14 -
lib/Makefile | 1 -
lib/assoc_array.c | 1724 -----------------
security/keys/Kconfig | 1 -
security/keys/internal.h | 9 +-
security/keys/key.c | 30 +-
security/keys/keyctl.c | 2 -
security/keys/keyring.c | 871 ++++-----
security/keys/request_key.c | 24 +-
.../dm-verity/test-dm-verity-keyring.sh | 2 +-
21 files changed, 457 insertions(+), 3564 deletions(-)
delete mode 100644 Documentation/core-api/assoc_array.rst
delete mode 100644 Documentation/translations/zh_CN/core-api/assoc_array.rst
delete mode 100644 include/linux/assoc_array.h
delete mode 100644 include/linux/assoc_array_priv.h
delete mode 100644 lib/assoc_array.c

--
2.47.3