The patch titled Subject: kthread_worker: fix return value when kthread_mod_delayed_work() races with kthread_cancel_delayed_work_sync() has been added to the -mm tree. Its filename is kthread_worker-fix-return-value-when-kthread_mod_delayed_work-races-with-kthread_cancel_delayed_work_sync.patch This patch should soon appear at https://ozlabs.org/~akpm/mmots/broken-out/kthread_worker-fix-return-value-when-kthread_mod_delayed_work-races-with-kthread_cancel_delayed_work_sync.patch and later at https://ozlabs.org/~akpm/mmotm/broken-out/kthread_worker-fix-return-value-when-kthread_mod_delayed_work-races-with-kthread_cancel_delayed_work_sync.patch Before you just go and hit "reply", please: a) Consider who else should be cc'ed b) Prefer to cc a suitable mailing list as well c) Ideally: find the original patch on the mailing list and do a reply-to-all to that, adding suitable additional cc's *** Remember to use Documentation/process/submit-checklist.rst when testing your code *** The -mm tree is included into linux-next and is updated there every 3-4 working days ------------------------------------------------------ From: Petr Mladek <pmladek@xxxxxxxx> Subject: kthread_worker: fix return value when kthread_mod_delayed_work() races with kthread_cancel_delayed_work_sync() kthread_mod_delayed_work() might race with kthread_cancel_delayed_work_sync() or another kthread_mod_delayed_work() call. The function lets the other operation win when it sees work->canceling counter set. And it returns @false. But it should return @true as it is done by the related workqueue API, see mod_delayed_work_on(). The reason is that the return value might be used for reference counting. It has to distinguish the case when the number of queued works has changed or stayed the same. The change is safe. kthread_mod_delayed_work() return value is not checked anywhere at the moment. Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20210521163526.GA17916@xxxxxxxxxx Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20210610133051.15337-4-pmladek@xxxxxxxx Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@xxxxxxxx> Reported-by: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Tejun Heo <tj@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Minchan Kim <minchan@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: <jenhaochen@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Martin Liu <liumartin@xxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> --- kernel/kthread.c | 19 ++++++++++++------- 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-) --- a/kernel/kthread.c~kthread_worker-fix-return-value-when-kthread_mod_delayed_work-races-with-kthread_cancel_delayed_work_sync +++ a/kernel/kthread.c @@ -1156,14 +1156,14 @@ static bool __kthread_cancel_work(struct * modify @dwork's timer so that it expires after @delay. If @delay is zero, * @work is guaranteed to be queued immediately. * - * Return: %true if @dwork was pending and its timer was modified, - * %false otherwise. + * Return: %false if @dwork was idle and queued, %true otherwise. * * A special case is when the work is being canceled in parallel. * It might be caused either by the real kthread_cancel_delayed_work_sync() * or yet another kthread_mod_delayed_work() call. We let the other command - * win and return %false here. The caller is supposed to synchronize these - * operations a reasonable way. + * win and return %true here. The return value can be used for reference + * counting and the number of queued works stays the same. Anyway, the caller + * is supposed to synchronize these operations a reasonable way. * * This function is safe to call from any context including IRQ handler. * See __kthread_cancel_work() and kthread_delayed_work_timer_fn() @@ -1175,13 +1175,15 @@ bool kthread_mod_delayed_work(struct kth { struct kthread_work *work = &dwork->work; unsigned long flags; - int ret = false; + int ret; raw_spin_lock_irqsave(&worker->lock, flags); /* Do not bother with canceling when never queued. */ - if (!work->worker) + if (!work->worker) { + ret = false; goto fast_queue; + } /* Work must not be used with >1 worker, see kthread_queue_work() */ WARN_ON_ONCE(work->worker != worker); @@ -1199,8 +1201,11 @@ bool kthread_mod_delayed_work(struct kth * be used for reference counting. */ kthread_cancel_delayed_work_timer(work, &flags); - if (work->canceling) + if (work->canceling) { + /* The number of works in the queue does not change. */ + ret = true; goto out; + } ret = __kthread_cancel_work(work); fast_queue: _ Patches currently in -mm which might be from pmladek@xxxxxxxx are kthread_worker-split-code-for-canceling-the-delayed-work-timer.patch kthread-prevent-deadlock-when-kthread_mod_delayed_work-races-with-kthread_cancel_delayed_work_sync.patch kthread_worker-fix-return-value-when-kthread_mod_delayed_work-races-with-kthread_cancel_delayed_work_sync.patch