Hi Bart, On 02/27/13 23:45, Bart Van Assche wrote: > This mini-series of two patches avoids that the device mapper > implementation can trigger a use-after-free during removal of a > mapped device. The two patches in this series are: > - block: Convert blk_run_queue() recursion into iteration. > - dm: Avoid running the md queue after the last dm_put(). > > Note: these patches are the result of source reading. As far as I know this issue has not (yet) caused any harm. Ref-counting of mapped device is like this: - dm depends on the fact that the block device is opened while there is bio/request submitted. So dm_get/put in dm_blk_open/close is enough to keep mapped device while there are bios. - Request-based target has a tiny window between dm_blk_close() and the end of rq_completed() because the opener may close the device once the last bio completes even if request is still finishing. dm_get/dm_put in dm_start_request/rq_completed closes this window. (See comments in dm_start_request()) - So, when dm_put() puts the last reference, there should be no requests in the queue. - If there is no reference to the mapped device, dm_destroy() may start tearing it down. It is ok if there is pending delayed work for the request queue because blk_cleanup_queue() is called before freeing the mapped device and cancels the delayed work. So as far as blk_run_queue_async() in rq_completed() is concerned, it is not a problem from "use-after-free" point of view. -- Jun'ichi Nomura, NEC Corporation -- dm-devel mailing list dm-devel@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/dm-devel