Summary
=======
This introduces FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL which will allows userspace to
implement something like mount -t ext4 --exclusive /dev/sda /B which
fails if a superblock for the requested filesystem does already exist:
Before this patch
-----------------
$ sudo ./move-mount -f xfs -o source=/dev/sda4 /A
Requesting filesystem type xfs
Mount options requested: source=/dev/sda4
Attaching mount at /A
Moving single attached mount
Setting key(source) with val(/dev/sda4)
$ sudo ./move-mount -f xfs -o source=/dev/sda4 /B
Requesting filesystem type xfs
Mount options requested: source=/dev/sda4
Attaching mount at /B
Moving single attached mount
Setting key(source) with val(/dev/sda4)
After this patch with --exclusive as a switch for FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ sudo ./move-mount -f xfs --exclusive -o source=/dev/sda4 /A
Requesting filesystem type xfs
Request exclusive superblock creation
Mount options requested: source=/dev/sda4
Attaching mount at /A
Moving single attached mount
Setting key(source) with val(/dev/sda4)
$ sudo ./move-mount -f xfs --exclusive -o source=/dev/sda4 /B
Requesting filesystem type xfs
Request exclusive superblock creation
Mount options requested: source=/dev/sda4
Attaching mount at /B
Moving single attached mount
Setting key(source) with val(/dev/sda4)
Device or resource busy | move-mount.c: 300: do_fsconfig: i xfs: reusing existing superblock not allowed
Details
=======
As mentioned on the list (cf. [1]-[3]) mount requests like
mount -t ext4 /dev/sda /A are ambigous for userspace. Either a new
superblock has been created and mounted or an existing superblock has
been reused and a bind-mount has been created.
This becomes clear if we consider two processes creating the same mount
for the same block device:
P1 P2
fd_fs = fsopen("ext4"); fd_fs = fsopen("ext4");
fsconfig(fd_fs, FSCONFIG_SET_STRING, "source", "/dev/sda"); fsconfig(fd_fs, FSCONFIG_SET_STRING, "source", "/dev/sda");
fsconfig(fd_fs, FSCONFIG_SET_STRING, "dax", "always"); fsconfig(fd_fs, FSCONFIG_SET_STRING, "resuid", "1000");
// wins and creates superblock
fsconfig(fd_fs, FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE, ...)
// finds compatible superblock of P1
// spins until P1 sets SB_BORN and grabs a reference
fsconfig(fd_fs, FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE, ...)
fd_mnt1 = fsmount(fd_fs); fd_mnt2 = fsmount(fd_fs);
move_mount(fd_mnt1, "/A") move_mount(fd_mnt2, "/B")
Not just does P2 get a bind-mount for nearly all filesystems the mount
options for P2 are usually completely ignored. The VFS itself doesn't
and shouldn't enforce filesystem specific mount option compatibility. It
only enforces incompatibility for read-only <-> read-write transitions:
mount -t ext4 /dev/sda /A
mount -t ext4 -o ro /dev/sda /B
The read-only request will fail with EBUSY as the VFS can't just
silently transition a superblock from read-write to read-only or vica
versa without risking security issues.
To userspace this silent superblock reuse can be security issue in
certain circumstances because there is currently no simple way for them
to know that they did indeed manage to create the superblock and didn't
just reuse an existing one.
This adds a new FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL command to fsconfig() that
returns EBUSY if an existing superblock is found. Userspace that needs
to be sure that they did create the superblock with the requested mount
options can request superblock creation using this command. If it
succeeds they can be sure that they did create the superblock with the
requested mount options.
This requires the new mount api. With the old mount api we would have to
plumb this through every legacy filesystem's file_system_type->mount()
method. If they want this feature they are most welcome to switch to the
new mount api.
Following is an analysis of the effect of FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL on
each high-level superblock creation helper:
(1) get_tree_nodev()
Always allocate new superblock. Hence, FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE and
FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL are equivalent.
The binderfs or overlayfs filesystems are examples.
(4) get_tree_keyed()
Finds an existing superblock based on sb->s_fs_info. Hence,
FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE would reuse an existing superblock whereas
FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL would reject it with EBUSY.
The mqueue or nfsd filesystems are examples.
(2) get_tree_bdev()
This effectively works like get_tree_keyed().
The ext4 or xfs filesystems are examples.
(3) get_tree_single()
Only one superblock of this filesystem type can ever exist.
Hence, FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE would reuse an existing superblock
whereas FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL would reject it with EBUSY.
The securityfs or configfs filesystems are examples.
This has a further consequence. Some filesystems will never destroy
the superblock once it has been created. For example, if securityfs
is mounted the allocated superblock will never be destroyed again as
long as there is still an LSM making use it. Consequently, even if
securityfs is unmounted and seemingly destroyed it really isn't
which means that FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL will continue rejecting
reusing the existing superblock.
This is unintuitive but not a problem. Such special purpose
filesystems aren't mounted multiple times anyway.
Following is an analysis of the effect of FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL on
filesystems that make use of the low-level sget_fc() helper directly.
They're all effectively variants on get_tree_keyed() or get_tree_bdev():
(5) mtd_get_sb()
Similar logic to get_tree_keyed().
(6) afs_get_tree()
Similar logic to get_tree_keyed().
(7) ceph_get_tree()
Similar logic to get_tree_keyed().
Already explicitly allows forcing the allocation of a new superblock
via CEPH_OPT_NOSHARE. This turns it into get_tree_nodev().
(8) fuse_get_tree_submount()
Similar logic to get_tree_nodev().
(9) fuse_get_tree()
Forces reuse of existing FUSE superblock.
Forces reuse of existing superblock if passed in file refers to an
existing FUSE connection.
If FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL is specified together with an fd
referring to an existing FUSE connections this would cause the
superblock reusal to fail. If reusing is the intent then
FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL shouldn't be specified.
(10) fuse_get_tree()
-> get_tree_nodev()
Same logic as in get_tree_nodev().
(11) fuse_get_tree()
-> get_tree_bdev()
Same logic as in get_tree_bdev().
(12) virtio_fs_get_tree()
Same logic as get_tree_keyed().
(13) gfs2_meta_get_tree()
Forces reuse of existing gfs2 superblock.
Mounting gfs2meta enforces that a gf2s superblock must already
exist. If not, it will error out. Consequently, mounting gfs2meta
with FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL would always fail. If reusing is the
intent then FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE_EXCL shouldn't be specified.
(14) kernfs_get_tree()
Similar logic to get_tree_keyed().
(15) nfs_get_tree_common()
Similar logic to get_tree_keyed().
Already explicitly allows forcing the allocation of a new superblock
via NFS_MOUNT_UNSHARED. This effectively turns it into
get_tree_nodev().
Link: [1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20230704-fasching-wertarbeit-7c6ffb01c83d@brauner
Link: [2] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20230705-pumpwerk-vielversprechend-a4b1fd947b65@brauner
Link: [3] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fsdevel/20230725-einnahmen-warnschilder-17779aec0a97@brauner
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base-commit: 1dbd9ceb390c4c61d28cf2c9251dd2015946ce51
change-id: 20230801-vfs-super-exclusive-c96146d24b29
