syzbot


possible deadlock in mnt_want_write (8)

Status: upstream: reported on 2026/06/08 23:15
Subsystems: overlayfs
[Documentation on labels]
Reported-by: syzbot+1e5626d6fd59853cbfaa@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
First crash: 4d09h, last: 4d09h
Discussions (1)
Title Replies (including bot) Last reply
[syzbot] [overlayfs?] possible deadlock in mnt_want_write (8) 0 (1) 2026/06/08 23:15
Similar bugs (12)
Kernel Title Rank 🛈 Repro Cause bisect Fix bisect Count Last Reported Patched Status
linux-5.15 possible deadlock in mnt_want_write missing-backport 4 C done 117 923d 1175d 0/3 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2024/10/15 12:27
upstream possible deadlock in mnt_want_write (6) kernfs 4 1 364d 360d 0/29 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2025/08/08 23:21
upstream possible deadlock in mnt_want_write fs 4 C done done 662 2070d 2877d 15/29 fixed on 2020/11/16 12:12
upstream possible deadlock in mnt_want_write (5) kernfs 4 1 514d 510d 0/29 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2025/04/20 18:48
linux-6.1 possible deadlock in mnt_want_write origin:upstream missing-backport 4 C done 56 924d 1168d 0/3 upstream: reported C repro on 2023/03/28 13:05
linux-4.19 possible deadlock in mnt_want_write romfs 4 C 730 1190d 2607d 0/1 upstream: reported C repro on 2019/04/19 16:54
android-49 possible deadlock in mnt_want_write 4 1 2860d 2860d 0/3 auto-closed as invalid on 2019/02/22 14:57
upstream possible deadlock in mnt_want_write (4) kernfs 4 1 639d 635d 0/29 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2024/12/16 14:12
upstream possible deadlock in mnt_want_write (2) integrity overlayfs 4 C done 867 951d 1819d 25/29 fixed on 2023/12/21 01:43
upstream possible deadlock in mnt_want_write (3) kernfs 4 9 786d 890d 0/29 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2024/07/22 10:45
upstream possible deadlock in mnt_want_write (7) fs 4 3 159d 161d 0/29 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2026/04/11 06:22
linux-4.14 possible deadlock in mnt_want_write ubifs 4 C 10467 1190d 2602d 0/1 upstream: reported C repro on 2019/04/25 05:09

Sample crash report:
======================================================
WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
syzkaller #0 Tainted: G             L     
------------------------------------------------------
syz.5.673/7842 is trying to acquire lock:
ffff0000d814a410 (sb_writers#3){.+.+}-{0:0}, at: mnt_want_write+0x44/0x9c fs/namespace.c:493

but task is already holding lock:
ffff0000dc947230 (&ovl_i_lock_key[depth]){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: ovl_inode_lock_interruptible fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h:705 [inline]
ffff0000dc947230 (&ovl_i_lock_key[depth]){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: ovl_nlink_start+0xc8/0x350 fs/overlayfs/util.c:1173

which lock already depends on the new lock.


the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is:

-> #2 (&ovl_i_lock_key[depth]){+.+.}-{4:4}:
       __mutex_lock_common kernel/locking/mutex.c:646 [inline]
       __mutex_lock+0x160/0xef8 kernel/locking/mutex.c:820
       mutex_lock_interruptible_nested+0x24/0x30 kernel/locking/mutex.c:898
       ovl_inode_lock_interruptible fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h:705 [inline]
       ovl_copy_up_start+0x58/0x264 fs/overlayfs/util.c:735
       ovl_copy_up_one fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c:1182 [inline]
       ovl_copy_up_flags+0x768/0x28a4 fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c:1243
       ovl_copy_up+0x24/0x34 fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c:1282
       ovl_link+0x8c/0x26c fs/overlayfs/dir.c:774
       vfs_link+0x40c/0x580 fs/namei.c:5774
       filename_linkat+0x224/0x478 fs/namei.c:5842
       __do_sys_linkat fs/namei.c:5868 [inline]
       __se_sys_linkat fs/namei.c:5863 [inline]
       __arm64_sys_linkat+0xe8/0x118 fs/namei.c:5863
       __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:35 [inline]
       invoke_syscall+0x98/0x244 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49
       el0_svc_common+0xe8/0x23c arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:121
       do_el0_svc+0x48/0x58 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:140
       el0_svc+0x64/0x260 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:736
       el0t_64_sync_handler+0x48/0x148 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:755
       el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:594

-> #1 (&ovl_i_mutex_key[depth]){+.+.}-{4:4}:
       down_write+0x50/0xc0 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1625
       inode_lock include/linux/fs.h:1029 [inline]
       lock_two_nondirectories+0xc4/0x148 fs/inode.c:1254
       ext4_move_extents+0x194/0x3580 fs/ext4/move_extent.c:589
       __ext4_ioctl fs/ext4/ioctl.c:1657 [inline]
       ext4_ioctl+0x2a14/0x4234 fs/ext4/ioctl.c:1922
       vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
       __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline]
       __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:583 [inline]
       __arm64_sys_ioctl+0x14c/0x1c4 fs/ioctl.c:583
       __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:35 [inline]
       invoke_syscall+0x98/0x244 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49
       el0_svc_common+0xe8/0x23c arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:121
       do_el0_svc+0x48/0x58 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:140
       el0_svc+0x64/0x260 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:736
       el0t_64_sync_handler+0x48/0x148 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:755
       el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:594

-> #0 (sb_writers#3){.+.+}-{0:0}:
       check_prev_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3165 [inline]
       check_prevs_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3284 [inline]
       validate_chain kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3908 [inline]
       __lock_acquire+0x1780/0x2f44 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5237
       lock_acquire+0x140/0x368 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5868
       percpu_down_read_internal include/linux/percpu-rwsem.h:53 [inline]
       percpu_down_read_freezable include/linux/percpu-rwsem.h:83 [inline]
       __sb_start_write include/linux/fs/super.h:19 [inline]
       sb_start_write+0x5c/0x294 include/linux/fs/super.h:125
       mnt_want_write+0x44/0x9c fs/namespace.c:493
       ovl_want_write fs/overlayfs/util.c:38 [inline]
       ovl_nlink_start+0x154/0x350 fs/overlayfs/util.c:1177
       ovl_do_remove+0x1c0/0xa04 fs/overlayfs/dir.c:954
       ovl_rmdir+0x24/0x34 fs/overlayfs/dir.c:993
       vfs_rmdir+0x34c/0x5a0 fs/namei.c:5366
       filename_rmdir+0x208/0x3dc fs/namei.c:5421
       __do_sys_unlinkat fs/namei.c:5596 [inline]
       __se_sys_unlinkat fs/namei.c:5589 [inline]
       __arm64_sys_unlinkat+0xc8/0x104 fs/namei.c:5589
       __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:35 [inline]
       invoke_syscall+0x98/0x244 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49
       el0_svc_common+0xe8/0x23c arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:121
       do_el0_svc+0x48/0x58 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:140
       el0_svc+0x64/0x260 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:736
       el0t_64_sync_handler+0x48/0x148 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:755
       el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:594

other info that might help us debug this:

Chain exists of:
  sb_writers#3 --> &ovl_i_mutex_key[depth] --> &ovl_i_lock_key[depth]

 Possible unsafe locking scenario:

       CPU0                    CPU1
       ----                    ----
  lock(&ovl_i_lock_key[depth]);
                               lock(&ovl_i_mutex_key[depth]);
                               lock(&ovl_i_lock_key[depth]);
  rlock(sb_writers#3);

 *** DEADLOCK ***

4 locks held by syz.5.673/7842:
 #0: ffff0000d924c410 (sb_writers#17){.+.+}-{0:0}, at: mnt_want_write+0x44/0x9c fs/namespace.c:493
 #1: ffff0000dc944300 (&ovl_i_mutex_dir_key[depth]/1){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: inode_lock_nested include/linux/fs.h:1074 [inline]
 #1: ffff0000dc944300 (&ovl_i_mutex_dir_key[depth]/1){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: __start_dirop+0xa0/0xf4 fs/namei.c:2914
 #2: ffff0000dc946ec0 (&ovl_i_mutex_dir_key[depth]){++++}-{4:4}, at: inode_lock include/linux/fs.h:1029 [inline]
 #2: ffff0000dc946ec0 (&ovl_i_mutex_dir_key[depth]){++++}-{4:4}, at: vfs_rmdir+0x110/0x5a0 fs/namei.c:5351
 #3: ffff0000dc947230 (&ovl_i_lock_key[depth]){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: ovl_inode_lock_interruptible fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h:705 [inline]
 #3: ffff0000dc947230 (&ovl_i_lock_key[depth]){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: ovl_nlink_start+0xc8/0x350 fs/overlayfs/util.c:1173

stack backtrace:
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 7842 Comm: syz.5.673 Tainted: G             L      syzkaller #0 PREEMPT 
Tainted: [L]=SOFTLOCKUP
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 03/18/2026
Call trace:
 show_stack+0x2c/0x3c arch/arm64/kernel/stacktrace.c:499 (C)
 __dump_stack+0x30/0x40 lib/dump_stack.c:94
 dump_stack_lvl+0xd8/0x12c lib/dump_stack.c:120
 dump_stack+0x1c/0x28 lib/dump_stack.c:129
 print_circular_bug+0x328/0x330 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:2043
 check_noncircular+0x158/0x174 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:2175
 check_prev_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3165 [inline]
 check_prevs_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3284 [inline]
 validate_chain kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3908 [inline]
 __lock_acquire+0x1780/0x2f44 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5237
 lock_acquire+0x140/0x368 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5868
 percpu_down_read_internal include/linux/percpu-rwsem.h:53 [inline]
 percpu_down_read_freezable include/linux/percpu-rwsem.h:83 [inline]
 __sb_start_write include/linux/fs/super.h:19 [inline]
 sb_start_write+0x5c/0x294 include/linux/fs/super.h:125
 mnt_want_write+0x44/0x9c fs/namespace.c:493
 ovl_want_write fs/overlayfs/util.c:38 [inline]
 ovl_nlink_start+0x154/0x350 fs/overlayfs/util.c:1177
 ovl_do_remove+0x1c0/0xa04 fs/overlayfs/dir.c:954
 ovl_rmdir+0x24/0x34 fs/overlayfs/dir.c:993
 vfs_rmdir+0x34c/0x5a0 fs/namei.c:5366
 filename_rmdir+0x208/0x3dc fs/namei.c:5421
 __do_sys_unlinkat fs/namei.c:5596 [inline]
 __se_sys_unlinkat fs/namei.c:5589 [inline]
 __arm64_sys_unlinkat+0xc8/0x104 fs/namei.c:5589
 __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:35 [inline]
 invoke_syscall+0x98/0x244 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49
 el0_svc_common+0xe8/0x23c arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:121
 do_el0_svc+0x48/0x58 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:140
 el0_svc+0x64/0x260 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:736
 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x48/0x148 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:755
 el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:594

Crashes (1):
Time Kernel Commit Syzkaller Config Log Report Syz repro C repro VM info Assets (help?) Manager Title
2026/06/04 23:06 git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/arm64/linux.git for-kernelci ec7ef10b77a6 197909be .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-gce-arm64 possible deadlock in mnt_want_write
* Struck through repros no longer work on HEAD.