Re: [PATCH] fs/ntfs3: fix double ni_unlock() in ntfs_readdir()

From: Zhou, Yun

Date: Wed Oct 28 2026 - 23:25:56 EST


On 10/24/26 06:35, Christian Aurich Zanettini Martins wrote:
Commit da4391c496fe ("ntfs3: release ni_lock before dir_emit in
ntfs_readdir to fix deadlocks") drops ni_lock before calling
ntfs_read_hdr() in ntfs_readdir(). If either call returns non-zero,
execution jumps to out, which calls ni_unlock() even though the lock
is no longer held.


The issue does indeed exist in the current linux-next (next-20261027),
but it was not introduced by da4391c496. When da4391c496 was committed
on July 1, fb058ccff57 had not yet been applied; fb058ccff57 was only
applied on October 8. This patch made the following changes (directly
altering the position of the out label):

-out_unlock:
+out:
ni_unlock(ni);

-out:
kfree(name);
put_indx_node(node);

The issue is caused by a conflict between two patches from different
time periods.

This also happens when getdents64() fills the supplied buffer,
triggering a lockdep "bad unlock balance" warning.

Jump to out_free instead to avoid unlocking an already released lock.

Reported-by: syzbot+5c0ed4f2974a8b100ed4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=5c0ed4f2974a8b100ed4
Fixes: da4391c496fe ("ntfs3: release ni_lock before dir_emit in ntfs_readdir to fix deadlocks")
Signed-off-by: Christian Aurich Zanettini Martins <christian.aurichzm@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Based on Paragon's ntfs3 master (da4391c496fe), also in linux-next.

Tested in QEMU with lockdep. A 128-byte getdents64() buffer
reproduced the warning before the fix. After the fix, no warning
occurred when reading root-only and 700-entry directories,
including four concurrent readers and a writer.

fs/ntfs3/dir.c | 5 +++--
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/ntfs3/dir.c b/fs/ntfs3/dir.c
index b54828735d55..45d6a41a7222 100644
--- a/fs/ntfs3/dir.c
+++ b/fs/ntfs3/dir.c
@@ -563,7 +563,7 @@ static int ntfs_readdir(struct file *file, struct dir_context *ctx)
*/
err = ntfs_read_hdr(sbi, ni, &root->ihdr, 0, pos, name, ctx);
if (err)
- goto out;
+ goto out_free;

ni_lock(ni);
bit = 0;
@@ -607,7 +607,7 @@ static int ntfs_readdir(struct file *file, struct dir_context *ctx)
((u64)bit << index_bits) + sbi->record_size,
pos, name, ctx);
if (err)
- goto out;
+ goto out_free;

ni_lock(ni);
}
@@ -615,6 +615,7 @@ static int ntfs_readdir(struct file *file, struct dir_context *ctx)
out:
ni_unlock(ni);

+out_free:
kfree(name);
put_indx_node(node);

base-commit: da4391c496fedc1ca78a99907712f2256ce8fb80