CVE-2026-90042: ceph: properly decrypt filenames in vmalloc() buffers

Published Sep 16, 2026
·
Updated

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ceph: properly decrypt filenames in vmalloc() buffers

The fscrypt subsystem uses the scatterlist crypto API, inheriting its requirement that any buffers are in the linear mapping region. However, the messenger client uses kvmalloc() to create buffers for messages, which will occasionally place those buffers in the vmalloc() region when physical memory fragmentation doesn't permit a large enough kmalloc(). The various callers of cephfnametousr() directly pass (slices of) raw messages from the MDS without considering that the messages may be in vmalloc() buffers, resulting in oopses especially on non-x86 platforms (see 'Closes:' for more details and a reproducer).

Make cephfnametousr() explicitly tolerant of vmalloc()-allocated fname->ctext, fname->name, and/or oname->name buffers, using tname (which, when non-null, must be a linear address; when null, is briefly allocated as necessary) as a bounce buffer to avoid passing any inappropriate addresses to fscryptfnamedisktousr().

Additionally change parsereplyinforeaddir() -- the only function to supply its own tname -- to follow the new "tname must never come from vmalloc()" rule by passing NULL when the message is not in the linear region. Though this causes a per-dentry kmalloc()+kfree(), this overhead exists only when processing the minority of messages that spill into vmalloc(). My (crude) testing puts this at only about 1 in 8,000 readdir messages. Still, if the overhead proves unreasonable in the future, it is easy enough to mitigate: a future change could allocate a bounce buffer in parsereplyinforeaddir() and use that as tname instead.

Affected Software

1 affected component
Linux Kernel

Event History

Sep 16, 2026
CVE Published
via MITRE·10:33 AM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·10:33 AM
Description

Frequently Asked Questions

1

Under what conditions can this occur?

The issue occurs when Ceph messenger message buffers allocated with kvmalloc() are placed in the vmalloc() region because memory fragmentation prevents a sufficiently large kmalloc() allocation. Filename data from MDS messages can then be passed to fscrypt through buffers that are not in the required linear mapping region.

2

Which systems are most likely to show visible failures?

The reported result is kernel oopses, with failures noted especially on non-x86 platforms. Systems using Ceph with fscrypt filename decryption and experiencing the relevant vmalloc()-backed message allocations are the affected scenario.

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