CVE-2026-46052 ceph: only d_add() negative dentries when they are unhashed
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ceph: only d_add() negative dentries when they are unhashed

Ceph can call d_add(dentry, NULL) on a negative dentry that is already
present in the primary dcache hash.

In the current VFS that is not safe.  d_add() goes through __d_add()
to __d_rehash(), which unconditionally reinserts dentry->d_hash into
the hlist_bl bucket.  If the dentry is already hashed, reinserting the
same node can corrupt the bucket, including creating a self-loop.
Once that happens, __d_lookup() can spin forever in the hlist_bl walk,
typically looping only on the d_name.hash mismatch check and
eventually triggering RCU stall reports like this one:

 rcu: INFO: rcu_sched self-detected stall on CPU
 rcu:         87-....: (2100 ticks this GP) idle=3a4c/1/0x4000000000000000 softirq=25003319/25003319 fqs=829
 rcu:         (t=2101 jiffies g=79058445 q=698988 ncpus=192)
 CPU: 87 UID: 2952868916 PID: 3933303 Comm: php-cgi8.3 Not tainted 6.18.17-i1-amd #950 NONE
 Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R7615/0G9DHV, BIOS 1.6.6 09/22/2023
 RIP: 0010:__d_lookup+0x46/0xb0
 Code: c1 e8 07 48 8d 04 c2 48 8b 00 49 89 fc 49 89 f5 48 89 c3 48 83 e3 fe 48 83 f8 01 77 0f eb 2d 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 8b 1b 48 85 db <74> 20 39 6b 18 75 f3 48 8d 7b 78 e8 ba 85 d0 00 4c 39 63 10 74 1f
 RSP: 0018:ff745a70c8253898 EFLAGS: 00000282
 RAX: ff26e470054cb208 RBX: ff26e470054cb208 RCX: 000000006e958966
 RDX: ff26e48267340000 RSI: ff745a70c82539b0 RDI: ff26e458f74655c0
 RBP: 000000006e958966 R08: 0000000000000180 R09: 9cd08d909b919a89
 R10: ff26e458f74655c0 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ff26e458f74655c0
 R13: ff745a70c82539b0 R14: d0d0d0d0d0d0d0d0 R15: 2f2f2f2f2f2f2f2f
 FS:  00007f5770896980(0000) GS:ff26e482c5d88000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
 CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
 CR2: 00007f5764de50c0 CR3: 000000a72abb5001 CR4: 0000000000771ef0
 PKRU: 55555554
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  lookup_fast+0x9f/0x100
  walk_component+0x1f/0x150
  link_path_walk+0x20e/0x3d0
  path_lookupat+0x68/0x180
  filename_lookup+0xdc/0x1e0
  vfs_statx+0x6c/0x140
  vfs_fstatat+0x67/0xa0
  __do_sys_newfstatat+0x24/0x60
  do_syscall_64+0x6a/0x230
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

This is reachable with reused cached negative dentries.  A Ceph lookup
or atomic_open can be handed a negative dentry that is already hashed,
and fs/ceph/dir.c then hits one of two paths that incorrectly assume
"negative" also means "unhashed":

  - ceph_finish_lookup():
      MDS reply is -ENOENT with no trace
      -> d_add(dentry, NULL)

  - ceph_lookup():
      local ENOENT fast path for a complete directory with shared caps
      -> d_add(dentry, NULL)

Both paths can therefore re-add an already-hashed negative dentry.

Ceph already uses the correct pattern elsewhere: ceph_fill_trace() only
calls d_add(dn, NULL) for a negative null-dentry reply when d_unhashed(dn)
is true.

Fix both fs/ceph/dir.c sites the same way: only call d_add() for a
negative dentry when it is actually unhashed.  If the negative dentry
is already hashed, leave it in place and reuse it as-is.

This preserves the existing behavior for unhashed dentries while
avoiding d_hash list corruption for reused hashed negatives.
Affected products: vendor: Linux
product: Linux
default_status: unaffected
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
default_status: affected
CVSS v3.1: version: 3.1
vectorString: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
baseScore: 7.5
baseSeverity: HIGH
Published: 2026-05-27T12:57:10.777Z