As noted by Paul the compiler is free to store a temporary result in a variable on stack, heap or global unless it is explicitly marked as volatile, see: http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2015/n4455.html#sample-optimizations This can result in a race between do_wp_page() and shrink_active_list() as follows. In do_wp_page() we can call page_move_anon_rmap(), which sets page->mapping as follows: anon_vma = (void *) anon_vma + PAGE_MAPPING_ANON; page->mapping = (struct address_space *) anon_vma; The page in question may be on an LRU list, because nowhere in do_wp_page() we remove it from the list, neither do we take any LRU related locks. Although the page is locked, shrink_active_list() can still call page_referenced() on it concurrently, because the latter does not require an anonymous page to be locked: CPU0 CPU1 ---- ---- do_wp_page shrink_active_list lock_page page_referenced PageAnon->yes, so skip trylock_page page_move_anon_rmap page->mapping = anon_vma rmap_walk PageAnon->no rmap_walk_file BUG page->mapping += PAGE_MAPPING_ANON This patch fixes this race by explicitly forbidding the compiler to split page->mapping store in page_move_anon_rmap() with the aid of WRITE_ONCE. Signed-off-by: Vladimir Davydov <vdavydov@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: "Kirill A. Shutemov" <kirill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Rik van Riel <riel@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Hugh Dickins <hughd@xxxxxxxxxx> --- Changes in v2: - do not add READ_ONCE to PageAnon and WRITE_ONCE to __page_set_anon_rmap and __hugepage_set_anon_rmap (Kirill) mm/rmap.c | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/mm/rmap.c b/mm/rmap.c index 24dd3f9fee27..8b18fd4227d1 100644 --- a/mm/rmap.c +++ b/mm/rmap.c @@ -950,7 +950,7 @@ void page_move_anon_rmap(struct page *page, VM_BUG_ON_PAGE(page->index != linear_page_index(vma, address), page); anon_vma = (void *) anon_vma + PAGE_MAPPING_ANON; - page->mapping = (struct address_space *) anon_vma; + WRITE_ONCE(page->mapping, (struct address_space *) anon_vma); } /** -- 1.7.10.4 -- 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>