[PATCH 01/12] vfs: allow unprivileged whiteout creation

[Miklos Szeredi <mszeredi@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Whiteouts, unlike real device node should not require privileges to create.

The general concern with device nodes is that opening them can have side
effects.  The kernel already avoids zero major (see
Documentation/admin-guide/devices.txt).  To be on the safe side the patch
explicitly forbids registering a char device with 0/0 number (see
cdev_add()).

This guarantees that a non-O_PATH open on a whiteout will fail with ENODEV;
i.e. it won't have any side effect.

Signed-off-by: Miklos Szeredi <mszeredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
 fs/char_dev.c                 |  3 +++
 fs/namei.c                    | 17 ++++-------------
 include/linux/device_cgroup.h |  3 +++
 3 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/char_dev.c b/fs/char_dev.c
index c5e6eff5a381..ba0ded7842a7 100644
--- a/fs/char_dev.c
+++ b/fs/char_dev.c
@@ -483,6 +483,9 @@ int cdev_add(struct cdev *p, dev_t dev, unsigned count)
 	p->dev = dev;
 	p->count = count;
 
+	if (WARN_ON(dev == WHITEOUT_DEV))
+		return -EBUSY;
+
 	error = kobj_map(cdev_map, dev, count, NULL,
 			 exact_match, exact_lock, p);
 	if (error)
diff --git a/fs/namei.c b/fs/namei.c
index a320371899cf..b48dc2e03888 100644
--- a/fs/namei.c
+++ b/fs/namei.c
@@ -3505,12 +3505,14 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(user_path_create);
 
 int vfs_mknod(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry, umode_t mode, dev_t dev)
 {
+	bool is_whiteout = S_ISCHR(mode) && dev == WHITEOUT_DEV;
 	int error = may_create(dir, dentry);
 
 	if (error)
 		return error;
 
-	if ((S_ISCHR(mode) || S_ISBLK(mode)) && !capable(CAP_MKNOD))
+	if ((S_ISCHR(mode) || S_ISBLK(mode)) && !is_whiteout &&
+	    !capable(CAP_MKNOD))
 		return -EPERM;
 
 	if (!dir->i_op->mknod)
@@ -4345,9 +4347,6 @@ static int do_renameat2(int olddfd, const char __user *oldname, int newdfd,
 	    (flags & RENAME_EXCHANGE))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
-	if ((flags & RENAME_WHITEOUT) && !capable(CAP_MKNOD))
-		return -EPERM;
-
 	if (flags & RENAME_EXCHANGE)
 		target_flags = 0;
 
@@ -4485,15 +4484,7 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE2(rename, const char __user *, oldname, const char __user *, newna
 
 int vfs_whiteout(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry)
 {
-	int error = may_create(dir, dentry);
-	if (error)
-		return error;
-
-	if (!dir->i_op->mknod)
-		return -EPERM;
-
-	return dir->i_op->mknod(dir, dentry,
-				S_IFCHR | WHITEOUT_MODE, WHITEOUT_DEV);
+	return vfs_mknod(dir, dentry, S_IFCHR | WHITEOUT_MODE, WHITEOUT_DEV);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(vfs_whiteout);
 
diff --git a/include/linux/device_cgroup.h b/include/linux/device_cgroup.h
index fa35b52e0002..57e63bd63370 100644
--- a/include/linux/device_cgroup.h
+++ b/include/linux/device_cgroup.h
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ static inline int devcgroup_inode_mknod(int mode, dev_t dev)
 	if (!S_ISBLK(mode) && !S_ISCHR(mode))
 		return 0;
 
+	if (S_ISCHR(mode) && dev == WHITEOUT_DEV)
+		return 0;
+
 	if (S_ISBLK(mode))
 		type = DEVCG_DEV_BLOCK;
 	else
-- 
2.21.1