Medium · published July 19, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
sysfs: don't remove existing directory on update failure
When sysfs_update_group() is called for a named group and create_files()
fails (e.g. -ENOMEM), internal_create_group() calls kernfs_remove(kn) on
the group directory. In the update path, kn was obtained via
kernfs_find_and_get() and refers to a directory that already existed
before this call. Removing it silently destroys a sysfs group that the
caller did not create.
Only remove the directory if we created it ourselves. On update failure
the directory remains as it is left empty by remove_files() inside
create_files(), but can be repopulated by a retry.
| Product | Versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 4.19, < 5.10.258 | 5.10.258 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 5.11, < 5.15.209 | 5.15.209 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 5.16, < 6.1.175 | 6.1.175 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.2, < 6.6.142 | 6.6.142 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.7, < 6.12.92 | 6.12.92 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.13, < 6.18.34 | 6.18.34 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.19, < 7.0.11 | 7.0.11 |
| linux/linux_kernel | all versions | — |
| linux/linux_kernel | all versions | — |
| linux/linux_kernel | all versions | — |
| linux/linux_kernel | all versions | — |