---
id: CVE-2026-46052
title: 'ceph: only d_add() negative dentries when they are unhashed'
summary: |-
  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.
  …
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef <
    4147ae08824cc8b65d2b2018f79d416af2937108
  - >-
    Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef <
    73b47a1f06dee5e61b00dee5227d75d3f1f6d977
  - >-
    Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef <
    79ffcbeac6bc1dc1bcdb0434acf250f6215ec111
  - >-
    Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef <
    83ce43a21bb7df8dd52228afdd918d2d058eefde
  - >-
    Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef <
    4179cc390dacebc87079419ec92f86f3dc46294d
  - >-
    Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef <
    b91e535f208c48a5e7464f1aa38338a30e7912df
  - >-
    Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef <
    2010cb06b9df7d3c816c78358c566bdacbdf38ff
  - >-
    Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef <
    803447f93d75ab6e40c85e6d12b5630d281d70d6
  - Linux 2.6.34
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'yes'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-10-16T15:19:14.236187Z'
published: '2026-05-27'
updated: '2026-10-16'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-16T15:20:49.402Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46052'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4147ae08824cc8b65d2b2018f79d416af2937108'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73b47a1f06dee5e61b00dee5227d75d3f1f6d977'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/79ffcbeac6bc1dc1bcdb0434acf250f6215ec111'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/83ce43a21bb7df8dd52228afdd918d2d058eefde'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4179cc390dacebc87079419ec92f86f3dc46294d'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b91e535f208c48a5e7464f1aa38338a30e7912df'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2010cb06b9df7d3c816c78358c566bdacbdf38ff'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/803447f93d75ab6e40c85e6d12b5630d281d70d6'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00501
epssPercentile: 0.4155
ingestedAt: '2026-10-16T17:24:46.704Z'
---

## Overview

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

- `Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef < 4147ae08824cc8b65d2b2018f79d416af2937108`
- `Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef < 73b47a1f06dee5e61b00dee5227d75d3f1f6d977`
- `Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef < 79ffcbeac6bc1dc1bcdb0434acf250f6215ec111`
- `Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef < 83ce43a21bb7df8dd52228afdd918d2d058eefde`
- `Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef < 4179cc390dacebc87079419ec92f86f3dc46294d`
- `Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef < b91e535f208c48a5e7464f1aa38338a30e7912df`
- `Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef < 2010cb06b9df7d3c816c78358c566bdacbdf38ff`
- `Linux >= 2817b000b02c5f0c05af67c01fb2684e1381d6ef < 803447f93d75ab6e40c85e6d12b5630d281d70d6`
- `Linux 2.6.34`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.
