Code: struct file *get_empty_filp(void)
{
	const struct cred *cred = current_cred();
	static long old_max;
	struct file *f;
	int error;

	/*
	 * Privileged users can go above max_files
	 */
	if (get_nr_files() >= files_stat.max_files && !capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN)) {
		/*
		 * percpu_counters are inaccurate.  Do an expensive check before
		 * we go and fail.
		 */
		if (percpu_counter_sum_positive(&nr_files) >= files_stat.max_files)
			goto over;
	}

	f = kmem_cache_zalloc(filp_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
	if (unlikely(!f))
		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);

	percpu_counter_inc(&nr_files);
	f->f_cred = get_cred(cred);
	error = security_file_alloc(f);
	if (unlikely(error)) {
		file_free(f);
 		return ERR_PTR(error);
 	}
 
	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&f->f_u.fu_list);
 	atomic_long_set(&f->f_count, 1);
 	rwlock_init(&f->f_owner.lock);
 	spin_lock_init(&f->f_lock);
	eventpoll_init_file(f);
	/* f->f_version: 0 */
	return f;

over:
	/* Ran out of filps - report that */
	if (get_nr_files() > old_max) {
		pr_info("VFS: file-max limit %lu reached\n", get_max_files());
		old_max = get_nr_files();
	}
	return ERR_PTR(-ENFILE);
}

Vulnerability Type: DoS 
CWE ID: CWE-17
Summary: The filesystem implementation in the Linux kernel before 3.13 performs certain operations on lists of files with an inappropriate locking approach, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (soft lockup or system crash) via unspecified use of Asynchronous I/O (AIO) operations.
Commit Message: get rid of s_files and files_lock

The only thing we need it for is alt-sysrq-r (emergency remount r/o)
and these days we can do just as well without going through the
list of files.

Signed-off-by: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>