Hmm. In this case it's really the kernel that is writing the xattr, so
in that case #2 kind of makes sense. It's also more than a bit scary,
assigning CAP_SYS_ADMIN in init_user_ns to a task from a user namespace.
Now we're already doing it for unprivileged users in init_user_ns which
isn't all that different, except for the fact that in the user namespace
that unprivileged user can also create the overlay mount, and that
leaves me feeling a bit uneasy. I'm not familiar enough with overlayfs
to decide whether or not this really presents an opportunity for someone
to do something malicious to the lower fs.

With #1, I don't think we have a way to distinguish between overlayfs
trying to write this xattr and userspace writing it directly, do we?
This also might present an opportunity for a user to do something mildly
malicious.

I can't comment on #3, I just don't know enough about overlayfs.

I don't really any other ideas. #2 seems the most logical to me if we
can be sure that it's safe.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1531747

Title:
  overlay: mkdir fails if directory exists in lowerdir in a user
  namespace

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