KernelScan.io

HIGH Introduced in 5.13

landlock Whiteout Bypass

CVE-2026-89560

CVSS 8.4 / 10.0 NVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H

KernelScan AI5.9MEDIUM

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: landlock: Require LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_REG for whiteout creation Whiteout objects are used in the upper layer of an OverlayFS to indicate that the file with this name does not exist in the unified view, even if it is present in one of the lower layer file systems. For the userspace implementations of OverlayFS (fuse-overlayfs), whiteout objects can be created from userspace as well: * mknod(2) with S_IFCHR and makedev(0, 0) * renameat2(2) with RENAME_WHITEOUT, creating the whiteout in the old place of the moved file. This commit guards whiteout creation in both of these cases with LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_REG. Whiteout objects are *not* considered character devices and are not bound to a driver. LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_REG describes the same permission class as a whiteout object: creating one is the only S_IFCHR creation that the VFS exempts from CAP_MKNOD, so it is as unprivileged as creating a regular file, while LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_CHAR and LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_BLOCK keep meaning the creation of devices that expose a kernel interface [1]. For the mknod(2) case, introduce a Landlock erratum. The creation of whiteout objects through mknod(2) was previously guarded using LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_CHAR, and it is now guarded using LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_REG. For the renameat2(2) case, fix a bug: Before this commit, renameat2(2) with RENAME_WHITEOUT would create a directory entry even when all LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_* rights were denied. This does not affect normal renames within layered OverlayFS mounts: When doing a regular rename() on a mounted fuse-overlayfs, it is the fuse-overlayfs daemon that exercises renameat2() with RENAME_WHITEOUT, and only the Landlock domain of that daemon is checked there. Depends-on: 49c9e09d9610 ("landlock: Fix handling of disconnected directories") Depends-on: fe72ce6710cb ("landlock: Add errata documentation section") [mic: Record why LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_REG is the matching right, and add link(2) to the user doc]

02

Engine v0.6.0

Risk summary

A process sandboxed by the Landlock security module can bypass file-creation restrictions to create OverlayFS whiteout objects where all creation permissions were denied. This affects any system using Landlock to restrict untrusted or tenant workloads. The bypass is triggered through standard local syscalls without requiring special privileges.

Affectedsecurity/landlock/fs.c (landlock)

Vulnerability analysis

The Landlock security module did not properly enforce its file-creation restrictions for OverlayFS whiteout objects. When a sandboxed process used a rename operation with the whiteout flag, the module would allow creating a whiteout directory entry even when all file-creation permissions were denied, completely bypassing the intended access control. Whiteouts created through the device-creation syscall were also checked against the wrong permission class. The fix adds a dedicated permission check for whiteout creation in both code paths, requiring the regular-file creation permission that matches the unprivileged nature of whiteout objects. Any local process running under a Landlock sandbox can trigger this through standard syscalls without needing special privileges.

03

BranchIntroducedFixed inPatch commit
5.155.135.15.22239fc16597715
6.15.136.1.188d739e3231847
6.125.136.12.110efb4f24fc2b9
6.185.136.18.50627ce4902df1
6.65.136.6.157dfb10d989056
7.25.137.2.40c3204aacbe8
mainline5.137.3672fa082d48b
cip/6.15.136.1.189-cip61d739e3231847
cip/6.1-rt5.136.1.189-cip61-rt32d739e3231847
cip/6.125.136.12.111-cip32efb4f24fc2b9

04

State of the newest release of each Civil Infrastructure Platform SLTS tree, from CIP's own fix records.

CIP treeState
cip/6.12Fixed in 6.12.111-cip32
cip/6.1Fixed in 6.1.189-cip61
cip/6.1-rtFixed in 6.1.189-cip61-rt32