audit: fix recursive locking deadlock in audit_dupe_exe()

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-68096
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerLinux
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-08-10 13:19:53 UTC
Updated2026-08-10 13:19:53 UTC
DescriptionIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: audit: fix recursive locking deadlock in audit_dupe_exe() A deadlock occurs in the audit subsystem when duplicating executable-related rules. When a file is moved (e.g., via do_renameat2()), the VFS layer locks the parent directory (I_MUTEX_PARENT), which synchronously triggers an fsnotify_move event. If an existing executable audit rule matches the file being moved, the audit subsystem catches this event and calls audit_dupe_exe() to duplicate the watch and update the rule. Then, audit_alloc_mark() would call kern_path_parent() to resolve the path, leading to a blind attempt to acquire the exact same I_MUTEX_PARENT lock already held by the task, resulting in the following recursive locking deadlock: ============================================ WARNING: possible recursive locking detected 6.12.0-55.27.1.el10_0.x86_64+debug #1 Not tainted -------------------------------------------- mv/5099 is trying to acquire lock: ffff888132845358 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: __kern_path_locked+0x10a/0x2f0 but task is already holding lock: ffff888132846b58 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: lock_two_directories+0x13f/0x2b0 other info that might help us debug this: Possible unsafe locking scenario: CPU0 ---- lock(&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1); lock(&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1); *** DEADLOCK *** May be due to missing lock nesting notation 6 locks held by mv/5099: #0: ffff888112a9c440 (sb_writers#13) at: do_renameat2+0x34c/0xbc0 #1: ffff888112a9c790 (&type->s_vfs_rename_key#3) at: do_renameat2+0x415/0xbc0 #2: ffff888132846b58 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/1) at: lock_two_directories+0x13f/0x2b0 #3: ffff888132845358 (&inode->i_sb->s_type->i_mutex_dir_key/5) at: lock_two_directories+0x175/0x2b0 #4: ffffffffb3a1fb10 (&fsnotify_mark_srcu) at: fsnotify+0x454/0x28a0 #5: ffffffffaf886230 (audit_filter_mutex) at: audit_update_watch+0x36/0x11e0 stack backtrace: Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x6f/0xb0 print_deadlock_bug.cold+0xbd/0xca validate_chain+0x83a/0xf00 __lock_acquire+0xcac/0x1d20 lock_acquire.part.0+0x11b/0x360 down_write_nested+0x9f/0x230 __kern_path_locked+0x10a/0x2f0 kern_path_locked+0x26/0x40 audit_alloc_mark+0xfb/0x4f0 audit_dupe_exe+0x6c/0xe0 audit_dupe_rule+0x6c2/0xc00 audit_update_watch+0x4cc/0x11e0 audit_watch_handle_event+0x12c/0x1b0 send_to_group+0x5d0/0x8b0 fsnotify+0x615/0x28a0 fsnotify_move+0x1d8/0x630 vfs_rename+0xdcd/0x1df0 do_renameat2+0x9d4/0xbc0 __x64_sys_renameat+0x192/0x260 do_syscall_64+0x92/0x180 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e RIP: 0033:0x7f0491fe8c4e Code: 0f 1f 40 00 48 8b 15 c1 e1 16 00 f7 d8 64 89 02 b8 ff ff ff ff c3 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 f3 0f 1e fa 49 89 ca b8 08 01 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 0a c3 66 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 48 8b 15 89 RSP: 002b:00007ffc7210bf38 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000108 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00007f0491fe8c4e RDX: 0000000000000003 RSI: 00007ffc7210e6c8 RDI: 00000000ffffff9c RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000001 R10: 00005575eb2dae2a R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 00005575eb2dae2a R13: 00007ffc7210e6c8 R14: 0000000000000003 R15: 00000000ffffff9c </TASK> The aforementioned deadlock can be consistently reproduced by running the script below: audit-dupe-exe-deadlock.sh -------------------------- #!/bin/bash auditctl -D mkdir -p /tmp/foo touch /tmp/file auditctl -a always,exit -F exe=/tmp/file -F path=/tmp/file -S all -k dr mv /tmp/file /tmp/foo/file rm -Rf /tmp/foo This patch fixes the issue by introducing struct audit_watch_ctx to pass the fsnotify event context down to audit_alloc_mark(). By utilizing the already-resolved directory inode provided by the event, we bypass the kern_path_parent() path resol ---truncated---

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Linux Linux affected 34d99af52ad40bd498ba66970579a5bc1fb1a3bc 36eb77f14b4e6f2dc1008c1fabe31236397be27a git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 34d99af52ad40bd498ba66970579a5bc1fb1a3bc 7d1f66c69898ffb1a718926c32a777ecc471caca git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 34d99af52ad40bd498ba66970579a5bc1fb1a3bc 40879c39d6740f3dddfb52b5d6ba7fb8cceb84d8 git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 34d99af52ad40bd498ba66970579a5bc1fb1a3bc 3b601938314c24fcd1afb6659cad92fe96c9c2f8 git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 34d99af52ad40bd498ba66970579a5bc1fb1a3bc 81905b5acbe77284734438df3fbec1158e6429a3 git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 4.3 Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 4.3 semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 6.6.148 6.6.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 6.12.101 6.12.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 6.18.42 6.18.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 7.1.6 7.1.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 7.2-rc1 * original_commit_for_fix Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
git.kernel.org/stable/c/7d1f66c69898ffb1a718926c32a777ecc471caca 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b601938314c24fcd1afb6659cad92fe96c9c2f8 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org/stable/c/81905b5acbe77284734438df3fbec1158e6429a3 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org/stable/c/40879c39d6740f3dddfb52b5d6ba7fb8cceb84d8 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org/stable/c/36eb77f14b4e6f2dc1008c1fabe31236397be27a 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
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