When fixing the race conditions between the coredump and the mmap_sem
holders outside the context of the process, we focused on
mmget_not_zero()/get_task_mm() callers in commit
04f5866e41fb70690e28397487d8bd8eea7d712a, but those aren't the only
cases where the mmap_sem can be taken outside of the context of the
process as Michal Hocko noticed while backporting that commit to
older -stable kernels.
If mmgrab() is called in the context of the process, but then the
mm_count reference is transferred outside the context of the process,
that can also be a problem if the mmap_sem has to be taken for writing
through that mm_count reference.
khugepaged registration calls mmgrab() in the context of the process,
but the mmap_sem for writing is taken later in the context of the
khugepaged kernel thread.
collapse_huge_page() after taking the mmap_sem for writing doesn't
modify any vma, so it's not obvious that it could cause a problem to
the coredump, but it happens to modify the pmd in a way that breaks an
invariant that pmd_trans_huge_lock() relies upon. collapse_huge_page()
needs the mmap_sem for writing just to block concurrent page faults
that call pmd_trans_huge_lock().
Specifically the invariant that "!pmd_trans_huge()" cannot become
a "pmd_trans_huge()" doesn't hold while collapse_huge_page() runs.
The coredump will call __get_user_pages() without mmap_sem for
reading, which eventually can invoke a lockless page fault which will
need a functional pmd_trans_huge_lock().
So collapse_huge_page() needs to use mmget_still_valid() to check it's
not running concurrently with the coredump... as long as the coredump
can invoke page faults without holding the mmap_sem for reading.
This has "Fixes: khugepaged" to facilitate backporting, but in my view
it's more a bug in the coredump code that will eventually have to be
rewritten to stop invoking page faults without the mmap_sem for
reading. So the long term plan is still to drop all
mmget_still_valid().
Cc: <stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Fixes: ba76149f47d8 ("thp: khugepaged")
Reported-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Andrea Arcangeli <aarcange@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
include/linux/sched/mm.h | 4 ++++
mm/khugepaged.c | 3 +++
2 files changed, 7 insertions(+)
diff --git a/include/linux/sched/mm.h b/include/linux/sched/mm.h
index a3fda9f024c3..4a7944078cc3 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched/mm.h
@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ static inline void mmdrop(struct mm_struct *mm)
* followed by taking the mmap_sem for writing before modifying the
* vmas or anything the coredump pretends not to change from under it.
*
+ * It also has to be called when mmgrab() is used in the context of
+ * the process, but then the mm_count refcount is transferred outside
+ * the context of the process to run down_write() on that pinned mm.
+ *
* NOTE: find_extend_vma() called from GUP context is the only place
* that can modify the "mm" (notably the vm_start/end) under mmap_sem
* for reading and outside the context of the process, so it is also
diff --git a/mm/khugepaged.c b/mm/khugepaged.c
index a335f7c1fac4..0f7419938008 100644
--- a/mm/khugepaged.c
+++ b/mm/khugepaged.c
@@ -1004,6 +1004,9 @@ static void collapse_huge_page(struct mm_struct *mm,
* handled by the anon_vma lock + PG_lock.
*/
down_write(&mm->mmap_sem);
+ result = SCAN_ANY_PROCESS;
+ if (!mmget_still_valid(mm))
+ goto out;
result = hugepage_vma_revalidate(mm, address, &vma);
if (result)
goto out;
