CVE: CVE-2025-68178
Published: 2025-12-16
Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

blk-cgroup: fix possible deadlock while configuring policy

Following deadlock can be triggered easily by lockdep:

WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
6.17.0-rc3-00124-ga12c2658ced0 #1665 Not tainted
------------------------------------------------------
check/1334 is trying to acquire lock:
ff1100011d9d0678 (&q->sysfs_lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: blk_unregister_queue+0x53/0x180

but task is already holding lock:
ff1100011d9d00e0 (&q->q_usage_counter(queue)#3){++++}-{0:0}, at: del_gendisk+0xba/0x110

which lock already depends on the new lock.

the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is:

-> #2 (&q->q_usage_counter(queue)#3){++++}-{0:0}:
       blk_queue_enter+0x40b/0x470
       blkg_conf_prep+0x7b/0x3c0
       tg_set_limit+0x10a/0x3e0
       cgroup_file_write+0xc6/0x420
       kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x189/0x280
       vfs_write+0x256/0x490
       ksys_write+0x83/0x190
       __x64_sys_write+0x21/0x30
       x64_sys_call+0x4608/0x4630
       do_syscall_64+0xdb/0x6b0
       entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

-> #1 (&q->rq_qos_mutex){+.+.}-{4:4}:
       __mutex_lock+0xd8/0xf50
       mutex_lock_nested+0x2b/0x40
       wbt_init+0x17e/0x280
       wbt_enable_default+0xe9/0x140
       blk_register_queue+0x1da/0x2e0
       __add_disk+0x38c/0x5d0
       add_disk_fwnode+0x89/0x250
       device_add_disk+0x18/0x30
       virtblk_probe+0x13a3/0x1800
       virtio_dev_probe+0x389/0x610
       really_probe+0x136/0x620
       __driver_probe_device+0xb3/0x230
       driver_probe_device+0x2f/0xe0
       __driver_attach+0x158/0x250
       bus_for_each_dev+0xa9/0x130
       driver_attach+0x26/0x40
       bus_add_driver+0x178/0x3d0
       driver_register+0x7d/0x1c0
       __register_virtio_driver+0x2c/0x60
       virtio_blk_init+0x6f/0xe0
       do_one_initcall+0x94/0x540
       kernel_init_freeable+0x56a/0x7b0
       kernel_init+0x2b/0x270
       ret_from_fork+0x268/0x4c0
       ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30

-> #0 (&q->sysfs_lock){+.+.}-{4:4}:
       __lock_acquire+0x1835/0x2940
       lock_acquire+0xf9/0x450
       __mutex_lock+0xd8/0xf50
       mutex_lock_nested+0x2b/0x40
       blk_unregister_queue+0x53/0x180
       __del_gendisk+0x226/0x690
       del_gendisk+0xba/0x110
       sd_remove+0x49/0xb0 [sd_mod]
       device_remove+0x87/0xb0
       device_release_driver_internal+0x11e/0x230
       device_release_driver+0x1a/0x30
       bus_remove_device+0x14d/0x220
       device_del+0x1e1/0x5a0
       __scsi_remove_device+0x1ff/0x2f0
       scsi_remove_device+0x37/0x60
       sdev_store_delete+0x77/0x100
       dev_attr_store+0x1f/0x40
       sysfs_kf_write+0x65/0x90
       kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x189/0x280
       vfs_write+0x256/0x490
       ksys_write+0x83/0x190
       __x64_sys_write+0x21/0x30
       x64_sys_call+0x4608/0x4630
       do_syscall_64+0xdb/0x6b0
       entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

other info that might help us debug this:

Chain exists of:
  &q->sysfs_lock --> &q->rq_qos_mutex --> &q->q_usage_counter(queue)#3

 Possible unsafe locking scenario:

       CPU0                    CPU1
       ----                    ----
  lock(&q->q_usage_counter(queue)#3);
                               lock(&q->rq_qos_mutex);
                               lock(&q->q_usage_counter(queue)#3);
  lock(&q->sysfs_lock);

Root cause is that queue_usage_counter is grabbed with rq_qos_mutex
held in blkg_conf_prep(), while queue should be freezed before
rq_qos_mutex from other context.

The blk_queue_enter() from blkg_conf_prep() is used to protect against
policy deactivation, which is already protected with blkcg_mutex, hence
convert blk_queue_enter() to blkcg_mutex to fix this problem. Meanwhile,
consider that blkcg_mutex is held after queue is freezed from policy
deactivation, also convert blkg_alloc() to use GFP_NOIO.
References: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0585b24d71197dd9ee8cf79c168a31628c631960; https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56ac639d6fa6fbb99caee74ee1c7276fc9bb47ed; https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5d726c4dbeeddef612e6bed27edd29733f4d13af