From: Pingfan Liu <kernelfans@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: mm/sparse.c: reset section's mem_map when fully deactivated After commit ba72b4c8cf60 ("mm/sparsemem: support sub-section hotplug"), when a mem section is fully deactivated, section_mem_map still records the section's start pfn, which is not used any more and will be reassigned during re-addition. In analogy with alloc/free pattern, it is better to clear all fields of section_mem_map. Beside this, it breaks the user space tool "makedumpfile" [1], which makes assumption that a hot-removed section has mem_map as NULL, instead of checking directly against SECTION_MARKED_PRESENT bit. (makedumpfile will be better to change the assumption, and need a patch) The bug can be reproduced on IBM POWERVM by "drmgr -c mem -r -q 5" , trigger a crash, and save vmcore by makedumpfile [1]: makedumpfile, commit e73016540293 ("[v1.6.7] Update version") Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1579487594-28889-1-git-send-email-kernelfans@xxxxxxxxx Signed-off-by: Pingfan Liu <kernelfans@xxxxxxxxx> Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx> Acked-by: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: Oscar Salvador <osalvador@xxxxxxx> Cc: Baoquan He <bhe@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Qian Cai <cai@xxxxxx> Cc: Kazuhito Hagio <k-hagio@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: <stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> --- mm/sparse.c | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) --- a/mm/sparse.c~mm-sparse-reset-sections-mem_map-when-fully-deactivated +++ a/mm/sparse.c @@ -789,7 +789,7 @@ static void section_deactivate(unsigned ms->usage = NULL; } memmap = sparse_decode_mem_map(ms->section_mem_map, section_nr); - ms->section_mem_map = sparse_encode_mem_map(NULL, section_nr); + ms->section_mem_map = (unsigned long)NULL; } if (section_is_early && memmap) _