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configfs: fix possible memory leak in configfs_create_dir()

Published Dec 24, 2025

Description

kmemleak reported memory leaks in configfs_create_dir():

unreferenced object 0xffff888009f6af00 (size 192): comm "modprobe", pid 3777, jiffies 4295537735 (age 233.784s) backtrace: kmem_cache_alloc (mm/slub.c:3250 mm/slub.c:3256 mm/slub.c:3263 mm/slub.c:3273) new_fragment (./include/linux/slab.h:600 fs/configfs/dir.c:163) configfs_register_subsystem (fs/configfs/dir.c:1857) basic_write (drivers/hwtracing/stm/p_basic.c:14) stm_p_basic do_one_initcall (init/main.c:1296) do_init_module (kernel/module/main.c:2455) ...

unreferenced object 0xffff888003ba7180 (size 96): comm "modprobe", pid 3777, jiffies 4295537735 (age 233.784s) backtrace: kmem_cache_alloc (mm/slub.c:3250 mm/slub.c:3256 mm/slub.c:3263 mm/slub.c:3273) configfs_new_dirent (./include/linux/slab.h:723 fs/configfs/dir.c:194) configfs_make_dirent (fs/configfs/dir.c:248) configfs_create_dir (fs/configfs/dir.c:296) configfs_attach_group.isra.28 (fs/configfs/dir.c:816 fs/configfs/dir.c:852) configfs_register_subsystem (fs/configfs/dir.c:1881) basic_write (drivers/hwtracing/stm/p_basic.c:14) stm_p_basic do_one_initcall (init/main.c:1296) do_init_module (kernel/module/main.c:2455) ...

This is because the refcount is not correct in configfs_make_dirent(). For normal stage, the refcount is changing as:

configfs_register_subsystem() configfs_create_dir() configfs_make_dirent() configfs_new_dirent() # set s_count = 1 dentry->d_fsdata = configfs_get(sd); # s_count = 2 ... configfs_unregister_subsystem() configfs_remove_dir() remove_dir() configfs_remove_dirent() # s_count = 1 dput() ... *dentry_unlink_inode()* configfs_d_iput() # s_count = 0, release

However, if we failed in configfs_create():

configfs_register_subsystem() configfs_create_dir() configfs_make_dirent() # s_count = 2 ... configfs_create() # fail ->out_remove: configfs_remove_dirent(dentry) configfs_put(sd) # s_count = 1 return PTR_ERR(inode);

There is no inode in the error path, so the configfs_d_iput() is lost and makes sd and fragment memory leaked.

To fix this, when we failed in configfs_create(), manually call configfs_put(sd) to keep the refcount correct.

Affected products

Remediation

No remediation recorded yet.

Metrics

Weaknesses (1)

References (11)

Change history (0)

No recorded changes yet.

Sources
CVE.org / MITRE
Status PUBLISHED
Assigner Linux
Published Dec 24, 2025
Updated May 11, 2026
Reserved Dec 24, 2025
NVD
Status Deferred
Modified Jun 17, 2026
Red Hat
Severity Low
Public date Dec 24, 2025