On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 02:00:11AM +0300, Kirill A. Shutemov wrote: > On Sat, Aug 23, 2014 at 06:11:59PM -0400, Peter Feiner wrote: > > For VMAs that don't want write notifications, PTEs created for read > > faults have their write bit set. If the read fault happens after > > VM_SOFTDIRTY is cleared, then the PTE's softdirty bit will remain > > clear after subsequent writes. > > > > Here's a simple code snippet to demonstrate the bug: > > > > char* m = mmap(NULL, getpagesize(), PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, > > MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_SHARED, -1, 0); > > system("echo 4 > /proc/$PPID/clear_refs"); /* clear VM_SOFTDIRTY */ > > assert(*m == '\0'); /* new PTE allows write access */ > > assert(!soft_dirty(x)); > > *m = 'x'; /* should dirty the page */ > > assert(soft_dirty(x)); /* fails */ > > > > With this patch, write notifications are enabled when VM_SOFTDIRTY is > > cleared. Furthermore, to avoid faults, write notifications are > > disabled when VM_SOFTDIRTY is reset. > > > > Signed-off-by: Peter Feiner <pfeiner@xxxxxxxxxx> One more case to consider: mprotect() which doesn't trigger successful vma_merge() will not set VM_SOFTDIRTY and will not enable write-protect on the vma. It's probably better to take VM_SOFTDIRTY into account in vma_wants_writenotify() and re-think logic in other corners. -- Kirill A. Shutemov -- To unsubscribe, send a message with 'unsubscribe linux-mm' in the body to majordomo@xxxxxxxxx. For more info on Linux MM, see: http://www.linux-mm.org/ . Don't email: <a href=mailto:"dont@xxxxxxxxx"> email@xxxxxxxxx </a>