Bernd Edlinger <bernd.edlinger@xxxxxxxxxx> writes: > On 3/6/20 6:17 AM, Eric W. Biederman wrote: >> Bernd Edlinger <bernd.edlinger@xxxxxxxxxx> writes: >> >>> On 3/5/20 10:16 PM, Eric W. Biederman wrote: >>>> >>>> The cred_guard_mutex is problematic. The cred_guard_mutex is held >>>> over the userspace accesses as the arguments from userspace are read. >>>> The cred_guard_mutex is held of PTRACE_EVENT_EXIT as the the other >>>> threads are killed. The cred_guard_mutex is held over >>>> "put_user(0, tsk->clear_child_tid)" in exit_mm(). >>>> > > I am all for this patch, and the direction it is heading, Eric. > > I just wanted to add a note that I think it is > possible that exec_mm_release can also invoke put_user(0, tsk->clear_child_tid), > under the new exec_update_mutex, since vm_access increments the > mm->mm_users, under the cred_update_mutex, but releases the mutex, > and the caller can hold the reference for a while and then exec_mmap is not > releasing the last reference. Good catch. I really appreciate your close look at the details. I am wondering if process_vm_readv and process_vm_writev could be safely changed to use mmgrab and mmdrop, instead of mmget and mmput. That would resolve the potential issue you have pointed out. I just haven't figured out if it is safe. The mm code has been seriously refactored since I knew how it all worked. Eric