From: Daan De Meyer <daan.j.demeyer@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:51:28 +0000 (+0000)
Subject: loop: fix partition scan race between udev and loop_reread_partitions()
X-Git-Url: http://git.ipfire.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=267ec4d7223a783f029a980f41b93c39b17996da;p=thirdparty%2Fkernel%2Flinux.git

loop: fix partition scan race between udev and loop_reread_partitions()

When LOOP_CONFIGURE is called with LO_FLAGS_PARTSCAN, the following
sequence occurs:

  1. disk_force_media_change() sets GD_NEED_PART_SCAN
  2. Uevent suppression is lifted and a KOBJ_CHANGE uevent is sent
  3. loop_global_unlock() releases the lock
  4. loop_reread_partitions() calls bdev_disk_changed() to scan

There is a race between steps 2 and 4: when udev receives the uevent
and opens the device before loop_reread_partitions() runs,
blkdev_get_whole() in bdev.c sees GD_NEED_PART_SCAN set and calls
bdev_disk_changed() for a first scan. Then loop_reread_partitions()
does a second scan. The open_mutex serializes these two scans, but
does not prevent both from running.

The second scan in bdev_disk_changed() drops all partition devices
from the first scan (via blk_drop_partitions()) before re-adding
them, causing partition block devices to briefly disappear. This
breaks any systemd unit with BindsTo= on the partition device: systemd
observes the device going dead, fails the dependent units, and does
not retry them when the device reappears.

Fix this by removing the GD_NEED_PART_SCAN set from
disk_force_media_change() entirely. None of the current callers need
the lazy on-open partition scan triggered by this flag:

  - floppy: sets GENHD_FL_NO_PART, so disk_has_partscan() is always
    false and GD_NEED_PART_SCAN has no effect.
  - loop (loop_configure, loop_change_fd): when LO_FLAGS_PARTSCAN is
    set, loop_reread_partitions() performs an explicit scan. When not
    set, GD_SUPPRESS_PART_SCAN prevents the lazy scan path.
  - loop (__loop_clr_fd): calls bdev_disk_changed() explicitly if
    LO_FLAGS_PARTSCAN is set.
  - nbd (nbd_clear_sock_ioctl): capacity is set to zero immediately
    after; nbd manages GD_NEED_PART_SCAN explicitly elsewhere.

With GD_NEED_PART_SCAN no longer set by disk_force_media_change(),
udev opening the loop device after the uevent no longer triggers a
redundant scan in blkdev_get_whole(), and only the single explicit
scan from loop_reread_partitions() runs.

A regression test for this bug has been submitted to blktests:
https://github.com/linux-blktests/blktests/pull/240.

Fixes: 9f65c489b68d ("loop: raise media_change event")
Signed-off-by: Daan De Meyer <daan@amutable.com>
Acked-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260331105130.1077599-1-daan@amutable.com
Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk>
---

diff --git a/block/disk-events.c b/block/disk-events.c
index 9f9f9f8a2d6b1..074731ecc3d25 100644
--- a/block/disk-events.c
+++ b/block/disk-events.c
@@ -290,13 +290,14 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(disk_check_media_change);
  * Should be called when the media changes for @disk.  Generates a uevent
  * and attempts to free all dentries and inodes and invalidates all block
  * device page cache entries in that case.
+ *
+ * Callers that need a partition re-scan should arrange for one explicitly.
  */
 void disk_force_media_change(struct gendisk *disk)
 {
 	disk_event_uevent(disk, DISK_EVENT_MEDIA_CHANGE);
 	inc_diskseq(disk);
 	bdev_mark_dead(disk->part0, true);
-	set_bit(GD_NEED_PART_SCAN, &disk->state);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(disk_force_media_change);