proc_register() increments the parent directory's link count for every
entry it registers, while remove_proc_entry() and remove_proc_subtree()
decrement it only when the removed entry is a directory. Regular files
thus inflate the parent's count while they exist, and leak one link
permanently on every create and remove cycle.
For example, /proc/bus/pci/00 with twenty-two device files and no
subdirectories reports nlink 24 instead of 2, and SR-IOV VF enable
and disable cycles, each creating and removing the VF config space
entries under /proc/bus/pci/<bus>, inflate the link count of that
directory without bound.
Before commit e06689bf57 ("proc: change ->nlink under
proc_subdir_lock"), the increment lived in proc_mkdir_data() and
proc_create_mount_point(), and was therefore applied only to
directories. Moving it into proc_register() to bring it under
proc_subdir_lock dropped the S_ISDIR check.
Thus, move the nlink accounting into pde_subdir_insert() and
pde_erase(), only updating it for directories in both, so the link
count is always changed together with the directory entry itself.
Fixes: e06689bf57 ("proc: change ->nlink under proc_subdir_lock")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org # v5.5+
Signed-off-by: Krzysztof Wilczyński <kwilczynski@kernel.org>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260613211005.921692-1-kwilczynski@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) <brauner@kernel.org>
16b02eb4b9