In bfq_insert_request(), bfqq is initialized with: bfqq = bfq_init_rq(rq); In bfq_init_rq(), we find: if (unlikely(!rq->elv.icq)) return NULL; Indeed, rq->elv.icq can be NULL if the memory allocation in create_task_io_context() failed. A comment in bfq_insert_request() suggests that bfqq is supposed to be non-NULL if 'at_head || blk_rq_is_passthrough(rq)' is false. Yet, as debugging and practical experience shows, this is not the case in the above situation. This results in the following crash. Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000000001b0 ... Call trace: bfq_setup_cooperator+0x44/0x134 bfq_insert_requests+0x10c/0x630 blk_mq_sched_insert_requests+0x60/0xb4 blk_mq_flush_plug_list+0x290/0x2d4 blk_flush_plug_list+0xe0/0x230 blk_finish_plug+0x30/0x40 generic_writepages+0x60/0x94 blkdev_writepages+0x24/0x30 do_writepages+0x74/0xac __filemap_fdatawrite_range+0x94/0xc8 file_write_and_wait_range+0x44/0xa0 blkdev_fsync+0x38/0x68 vfs_fsync_range+0x68/0x80 do_fsync+0x44/0x80 The problem is relatively easy to reproduce by running an image with failslab enabled, such as with: cd /sys/kernel/debug/failslab echo 10 > probability echo 300 > times Avoid the problem by checking if bfqq is NULL before using it. With the NULL check in place, requests with missing io context are queued immediately, and the crash is no longer seen. Fixes: 18e5a57d79878 ("block, bfq: postpone rq preparation to insert or merge") Reported-by: Hsin-Yi Wang <hsinyi@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Hsin-Yi Wang <hsinyi@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Nicolas Boichat <drinkcat@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Doug Anderson <dianders@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Guenter Roeck <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxx> --- block/bfq-iosched.c | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/block/bfq-iosched.c b/block/bfq-iosched.c index 72860325245a..56f3f4227010 100644 --- a/block/bfq-iosched.c +++ b/block/bfq-iosched.c @@ -5417,7 +5417,7 @@ static void bfq_insert_request(struct blk_mq_hw_ctx *hctx, struct request *rq, spin_lock_irq(&bfqd->lock); bfqq = bfq_init_rq(rq); - if (at_head || blk_rq_is_passthrough(rq)) { + if (!bfqq || at_head || blk_rq_is_passthrough(rq)) { if (at_head) list_add(&rq->queuelist, &bfqd->dispatch); else -- 2.7.4