Oleg Nesterov <oleg@xxxxxxxxxx> writes: > Eric, > > I am sick today and can't read the code, but I feel this patch is not > right ... please correct me. > So, iiuc when posix_cpu_timer_create() is called and CPUCLOCK_PERTHREAD > is false we roughly have > > task = pid_task(pid, PIDTYPE_TGID); // lookup_task() > > /* WINDOW */ > > timer->it.cpu.pid = = get_task_pid(task, PIDTYPE_TGID) // posix_cpu_timer_create() > > Now suppose that we race with mt-exec and this "task" is the old leader; > it can be release_task()'ed in the WINDOW above and then get_task_pid() > will return NULL. Except it is asking for PIDTYPE_TGID. task->signal even if it is freed (which it won't be in a mt-exec) is valid until after an rcu window. release_task() put_task_struct_rcu_user() call_rcu(..., delayed_put_task_struct()) ... rcu delay ... delayed_put_task_struct() put_task_struct() __put_task_struct() put_signal_struct() free_signal_struct() Which means that task->signal->pids[PIDTYPE_TGID] will remain valid even across mt-exec. Further the only change I have introduced is to perform this work under rcu_read_lock vs taking a reference to task_struct. As the reference to task_struct does not prevent release_task, the situation with respect to races in the rest of the code does not change. Hmm.... If the case instead is: > timer->it.cpu.pid = get_task_pid(task, PIDTYPE_PID) // posix_cpu_timer_create() Which can also happen for threads in the same thread group. I have to agree that we can wind up with a NULL pid. And that is a brand new bug, because we didn't use to use pids. Sigh. > That is why I suggested to change lookup_task() to return "struct pid*" > to eliminate the pid -> task -> pid transition. Yes. I have to agree. Getting rid of the pid -> task -> pid transition looks important to close bugs like that. > Apart from the same_thread_group() check for the "thread" case we do not > need task_struct at all, lookup_task() can do > > if (thread) { > p = pid_task(pid, PIDTYPE_PID); > if (p && !same_thread_group(p, current)) > pid = NULL; > } else { > ... gettime check ... > > if (!pid_has_task(pid, PIDTYPE_TGID)) > pid = NULL; > } > > return pid; > > No? There is also the posix_cpu_clock_get, where we immediately use the clock instead of create something we can use later. I want to say the gettime case is another reason to go through the whole transition but the code can just as easily say "pid = task_tgid(current)" as it can "p = current"; Eric