Uninitialized pointers with `__free` attribute can cause undefined
behaviour as the memory assigned(randomly) to the pointer is freed
automatically when the pointer goes out of scope

overlayfs doesn't have any bugs related to this as of now, but
it is better to initialize and assign pointers with `__free` attr
in one statement to ensure proper scope-based cleanup

Reported-by: Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@linaro.org>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/aPiG_F5EBQUjZqsl@stanley.mountain/
Signed-off-by: Ally Heev <allyheev@gmail.com>
---
 fs/overlayfs/params.c | 3 +--
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/params.c b/fs/overlayfs/params.c
index 63b7346c5ee1c127a9c33b12c3704aa035ff88cf..56d5906e1e41ae6581911cbd269d0fb085db4516 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/params.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/params.c
@@ -448,10 +448,9 @@ static int ovl_parse_layer(struct fs_context *fc, struct fs_parameter *param,
 		err = ovl_do_parse_layer(fc, param->string, &layer_path, layer);
 		break;
 	case fs_value_is_file: {
-		char *buf __free(kfree);
 		char *layer_name;
+		char *buf __free(kfree) = kmalloc(PATH_MAX, GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT);
 
-		buf = kmalloc(PATH_MAX, GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT);
 		if (!buf)
 			return -ENOMEM;
 

---
base-commit: c9cfc122f03711a5124b4aafab3211cf4d35a2ac
change-id: 20251105-aheev-uninitialized-free-attr-overlayfs-6873964429e0

Best regards,
-- 
Ally Heev <allyheev@gmail.com>

On Wed, Nov 5, 2025 at 3:33 PM Ally Heev <allyheev@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Uninitialized pointers with `__free` attribute can cause undefined
> behaviour as the memory assigned(randomly) to the pointer is freed
> automatically when the pointer goes out of scope
>
> overlayfs doesn't have any bugs related to this as of now, but
> it is better to initialize and assign pointers with `__free` attr
> in one statement to ensure proper scope-based cleanup
>
> Reported-by: Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@linaro.org>
> Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/aPiG_F5EBQUjZqsl@stanley.mountain/
> Signed-off-by: Ally Heev <allyheev@gmail.com>
> ---

Christian,

Would you mind picking this patch?

Feel free to add:
Acked-by: Amir Goldstein <amir73il@gmail.com>


Thanks,
Amir.

>  fs/overlayfs/params.c | 3 +--
>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/params.c b/fs/overlayfs/params.c
> index 63b7346c5ee1c127a9c33b12c3704aa035ff88cf..56d5906e1e41ae6581911cbd269d0fb085db4516 100644
> --- a/fs/overlayfs/params.c
> +++ b/fs/overlayfs/params.c
> @@ -448,10 +448,9 @@ static int ovl_parse_layer(struct fs_context *fc, struct fs_parameter *param,
>                 err = ovl_do_parse_layer(fc, param->string, &layer_path, layer);
>                 break;
>         case fs_value_is_file: {
> -               char *buf __free(kfree);
>                 char *layer_name;
> +               char *buf __free(kfree) = kmalloc(PATH_MAX, GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT);
>
> -               buf = kmalloc(PATH_MAX, GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT);
>                 if (!buf)
>                         return -ENOMEM;
>
>
> ---
> base-commit: c9cfc122f03711a5124b4aafab3211cf4d35a2ac
> change-id: 20251105-aheev-uninitialized-free-attr-overlayfs-6873964429e0
>
> Best regards,
> --
> Ally Heev <allyheev@gmail.com>
>