While stressing compaction, one run oopsed on NULL capc->cc in __free_one_page()'s task_capc(zone): compact_zone_order() had been interrupted, and a page was being freed in the return from interrupt. Though you would not expect it from the source, both gccs I was using (a 4.8.1 and a 7.5.0) had chosen to compile compact_zone_order() with the ".cc = &cc" implemented by mov %rbx,-0xb0(%rbp) immediately before callq compact_zone - long after the "current->capture_control = &capc". An interrupt in between those finds capc->cc NULL (zeroed by an earlier rep stos). This could presumably be fixed by a barrier() before setting current->capture_control in compact_zone_order(); but would also need more care on return from compact_zone(), in order not to risk leaking a page captured by interrupt just before capture_control is reset. Maybe that is the preferable fix, but I felt safer for task_capc() to exclude the rather surprising possibility of capture at interrupt time. Fixes: 5e1f0f098b46 ("mm, compaction: capture a page under direct compaction") Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx # 5.1+ Signed-off-by: Hugh Dickins <hughd@xxxxxxxxxx> --- mm/page_alloc.c | 1 + 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) --- 5.8-rc0/mm/page_alloc.c 2020-06-08 14:38:47.298625588 -0700 +++ linux/mm/page_alloc.c 2020-06-10 12:12:34.982950441 -0700 @@ -814,6 +814,7 @@ static inline struct capture_control *ta struct capture_control *capc = current->capture_control; return capc && + in_task() && !(current->flags & PF_KTHREAD) && !capc->page && capc->cc->zone == zone &&