[PATCH v2] ksmbd: deny access for an empty DACL instead of granting the request

From: Aamir Ahmed

Date: Wed Sep 16 2026 - 07:24:14 EST


smb_check_perm_dacl() returns the access mask it computes to the SMB2
CREATE handler, which uses it as the granted access for the open. For a
security descriptor whose DACL is present but contains no ACEs, the
function is supposed to deny access: an empty (non-NULL) DACL grants no
access to anyone except the object owner's implicit READ_CONTROL and
WRITE_DAC (MS-DTYP 2.4.5).

The empty-DACL branch only denies when both

- the DACL has no trailing bytes (pdacl_size == sizeof(struct smb_acl)),
and
- the request contains bits beyond READ_CONTROL / WRITE_DAC.

In every other case it takes the shared "goto err_out" with rc still 0,
which returns success without modifying *pdaccess, so the caller grants
the full requested access. Three problems follow:

- The READ_CONTROL / WRITE_DAC carve-out models the owner's implicit
rights, but the check runs before is_owner is computed, so those
rights are handed to *every* caller, not just the owner. For
READ_CONTROL the SMB2 CREATE path does not fall back to
inode_permission(), so any user can read the security descriptor of
an object whose empty DACL is meant to deny them.

- A request of exactly READ_CONTROL and/or WRITE_DAC is granted to any
caller. WRITE_DAC lets the handle rewrite the DACL.

- A DACL that declares zero ACEs but carries trailing bytes
(pdacl_size > sizeof(struct smb_acl)) skips the deny entirely and is
granted whatever was requested.

On shares where the NT ACL is the authoritative access control -- e.g.
"force user" shares, where every client maps to one POSIX identity so
POSIX cannot distinguish users -- this is an access-control bypass.

Compute is_owner before the empty-DACL branch and deny access from an
empty DACL unless the caller is the owner requesting no more than
READ_CONTROL / WRITE_DAC.

Fixes: e2f34481b24d ("cifsd: add server-side procedures for SMB3")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Aamir Ahmed <elb12345@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---

Notes:
v2:
- add the Assisted-by: LLM tag
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cifs/AS8P251MB000152D9BF4B8E0601640661C8B32@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/

This supersedes both v1 postings; "ksmbd: fix empty DACL handling in
smb_check_perm_dacl()" was the same patch sent by mistake and can be
dropped.

The bug was located by auditing smb_check_perm_dacl() for paths that
return success (rc == 0) while leaving *pdaccess unmodified -- the same
class as commit 08f41323f549 ("ksmbd: fix maximal access leak when
object has no NT ACL"), which fixed one such path for the maximal-access
caller. The empty-DACL and malformed-descriptor paths were not covered.

Compiled (CC fs/smb/server/smbacl.o) and checkpatch --strict clean; the
decision change was cross-checked with a small semantic model of the
branch for owner/non-owner x requested-bits x trailing-bytes.

fs/smb/server/smbacl.c | 24 +++++++++++++++---------
1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/smb/server/smbacl.c b/fs/smb/server/smbacl.c
index e752479..3611dc6 100644
--- a/fs/smb/server/smbacl.c
+++ b/fs/smb/server/smbacl.c
@@ -1494,21 +1494,27 @@ int smb_check_perm_dacl(struct ksmbd_conn *conn, const struct path *path,
if (pdacl_size > acl_size || pdacl_size < sizeof(struct smb_acl))
goto err_out;

- if (!pdacl->num_aces) {
- if (!(pdacl_size - sizeof(struct smb_acl)) &&
- *pdaccess & ~(FILE_READ_CONTROL_LE | FILE_WRITE_DAC_LE)) {
- rc = -EACCES;
- goto err_out;
- }
- goto err_out;
- }
-
if (!uid)
sid_type = SIDUNIX_USER;
id_to_sid(uid, sid_type, &sid);
vfsuid = i_uid_into_vfsuid(idmap, d_inode(path->dentry));
is_owner = uid == from_kuid(&init_user_ns, vfsuid_into_kuid(vfsuid));

+ if (!pdacl->num_aces) {
+ /*
+ * An empty (present, zero-ACE) DACL grants no access to
+ * anyone except the object owner's implicit READ_CONTROL
+ * and WRITE_DAC (MS-DTYP 2.4.5). Deny every other caller,
+ * deny the owner any access beyond those two bits, and do
+ * not let trailing bytes after a zero-ACE DACL become an
+ * implicit grant.
+ */
+ if (!is_owner ||
+ (*pdaccess & ~(FILE_READ_CONTROL_LE | FILE_WRITE_DAC_LE)))
+ rc = -EACCES;
+ goto err_out;
+ }
+
if (*pdaccess & FILE_MAXIMAL_ACCESS_LE) {
ace = (struct smb_ace *)((char *)pdacl + sizeof(struct smb_acl));
aces_size = pdacl_size - sizeof(struct smb_acl);
--
2.53.0.windows.1