CVE-2026-97902 — fs: don't return -EINVAL for successful nested thaw

Affected: Linux

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

fs: don't return -EINVAL for successful nested thaw

Commit 7366f8b6fc6a ("fs: handle freezing from multiple devices") replaced the freeze_holders bitmask with per-holder counters to allow nested freezes. In the bitmask version, a thaw that released a shared hold while another holder remained returned 0. Since the rework, thaw_super_locked() drops the freeze reference via freeze_dec() but then returns -EINVAL when other freezers remain, misinforming the caller: the thaw did succeed, the superblock just stays frozen for the remaining holders.

This breaks bdev-initiated freezing. When a filesystem is frozen with FIFREEZE and additionally frozen via bdev_freeze() -- which nests by design, see fs_bdev_freeze() -- the subsequent bdev_thaw() receives -EINVAL from the holder op although its freeze reference was dropped, and therefore keeps bd_fsfreeze_count elevated. Then device-mapper's unlock_fs() ignores bdev_thaw()'s return value, so nothing rebalances the count. After the user's FITHAW and umount, the block device can never be mounted again:

dm-1: Can't mount, blockdev is frozen

There is no way for userspace to drop the leaked count; only destroying the block device (or a reboot) recovers the device.

Reproducer (any kernel since v6.8):

dmsetup create dut --table "0 $(blockdev --getsz "$DEV") linear $DEV 0" mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/dut mount /dev/mapper/dut /mnt fsfreeze --freeze /mnt…

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CVE-2026-97902 — fs: don't return -EINVAL for successful nested thaw