+ mm-ptdump-always-stabilise-against-page-table-freeing-using-init_mm.patch added to mm-hotfixes-unstable branch

[Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>]

The patch titled
     Subject: mm/ptdump: always stabilise against page table freeing using init_mm
has been added to the -mm mm-hotfixes-unstable branch.  Its filename is
     mm-ptdump-always-stabilise-against-page-table-freeing-using-init_mm.patch

This patch will shortly appear at
     https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/25-new.git/tree/patches/mm-ptdump-always-stabilise-against-page-table-freeing-using-init_mm.patch

This patch will later appear in the mm-hotfixes-unstable branch at
    git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/mm

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------------------------------------------------------
From: Lorenzo Stoakes <ljs@kernel.org>
Subject: mm/ptdump: always stabilise against page table freeing using init_mm
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2026 18:24:25 +0100

Previous commits have established the invariant that kernel page table
freeing is performed while an mmap read lock on init_mm is held, which
fixes races between ptdump and kernel page table freeing over init_mm.

However, x86 and arm64 can perform a ptdump over an mm other than init_mm
via ptdump_walk_pgd() and since kernel memory ranges are shared across
non-kernel mm's, this means that the race still exists for these cases.

Fix this by acquiring a nested mmap write lock for init_mm in
ptdump_walk_pgd().

This is safe as we take this after mmap write locking the mm, and nothing
acquires the init_mm lock first before locking an arbitrary mm, so no
deadlock is possible.

Also update walk_page_range_debug() to assert that init_mm is write locked,
add a comment explaining why and remove some redundant code, and eliminate
the unnecessary and confusing invocation of walk_kernel_page_table_range().

We can safely remove the non-NULL check for walk.mm, as the mmap lock
asserts would NULL pointer deref if it was (and of course no callers do
this).

The first point at which ptdump can race kernel page table freeing is
commit b6bdb7517c3d ("mm/vmalloc: add interfaces to free unmapped page
table"), so we target this in the Fixes tag.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260714-series-vmap-race-fix-v3-3-b812eccfa0f9@kernel.org
Fixes: b6bdb7517c3d ("mm/vmalloc: add interfaces to free unmapped page table")
Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes <ljs@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Mike Rapoport (Microsoft) <rppt@kernel.org>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>
Cc: "Borislav Petkov (AMD)" <bp@alien8.de>
Cc: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>
Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>
Cc: Dev Jain <dev.jain@arm.com>
Cc: "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>
Cc: Kiryl Shutsemau <kas@kernel.org>
Cc: Liam R. Howlett <liam@infradead.org>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@arm.com>
Cc: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>
Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Cc: Toshi Kani <toshi.kani@hpe.com>
Cc: "Uladzislau Rezki (Sony)" <urezki@gmail.com>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@kernel.org>
Cc: Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>
Cc: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
---

 mm/pagewalk.c |   14 +++++++++-----
 mm/ptdump.c   |    7 +++++++
 2 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

--- a/mm/pagewalk.c~mm-ptdump-always-stabilise-against-page-table-freeing-using-init_mm
+++ a/mm/pagewalk.c
@@ -702,12 +702,16 @@ int walk_page_range_debug(struct mm_stru
 	 * to account for page table freeing on vmap huge page mapping.
 	 */
 	mmap_assert_write_locked(mm);
+	/*
+	 * x86, arm64 ptdump allow walks of efi mm's and x86 ptdump allows walks
+	 * of arbitrary mm's.
+	 *
+	 * However, they both must also hold the init_mm lock to account for
+	 * concurrent kernel page table freeing.
+	 */
+	mmap_assert_write_locked(&init_mm);
 
-	/* For convenience, we allow traversal of kernel mappings. */
-	if (mm == &init_mm)
-		return walk_kernel_page_table_range(start, end, ops,
-						    pgd, private);
-	if (start >= end || !walk.mm)
+	if (start >= end)
 		return -EINVAL;
 	if (!check_ops_safe(ops))
 		return -EINVAL;
--- a/mm/ptdump.c~mm-ptdump-always-stabilise-against-page-table-freeing-using-init_mm
+++ a/mm/ptdump.c
@@ -178,11 +178,18 @@ void ptdump_walk_pgd(struct ptdump_state
 
 	get_online_mems();
 	mmap_write_lock(mm);
+	/* To stabilise kernel page tables we must hold the init_mm lock too. */
+	if (mm != &init_mm)
+		mmap_write_lock_nested(&init_mm, SINGLE_DEPTH_NESTING);
+
 	while (range->start != range->end) {
 		walk_page_range_debug(mm, range->start, range->end,
 				      &ptdump_ops, pgd, st);
 		range++;
 	}
+
+	if (mm != &init_mm)
+		mmap_write_unlock(&init_mm);
 	mmap_write_unlock(mm);
 	put_online_mems();
 
_

Patches currently in -mm which might be from ljs@kernel.org are

mm-vmalloc-acquire-init_mm-lock-on-huge-vmap-to-avoid-ptdump-uaf.patch
x86-mm-pat-acquire-mmap-lock-on-page-table-free-to-avoid-ptdump-uaf.patch
mm-ptdump-always-stabilise-against-page-table-freeing-using-init_mm.patch
arm64-remove-redundant-concurrent-ptdump-uaf-mitigation.patch
mm-move-alloc-tag-to-mm.patch
mm-move-vma_start_pgoff-into-mmh-and-clean-up.patch
mm-add-kdoc-comments-for-vma_start-last_pgoff.patch
tools-testing-vma-use-vma_start_pgoff-in-merge-tests.patch
mm-introduce-and-use-vma_end_pgoff.patch
mm-rmap-update-mm-interval_treec-comments.patch
mm-rmap-parameterise-vma_interval_tree_-by-address_space.patch
mm-rmap-elide-unnecessary-static-inlines-in-interval_treec.patch
mm-rmap-rename-vma_interval_tree_-to-mapping_rmap_tree_.patch
mm-rmap-parameterise-anon_vma_interval_tree_-by-anon_vma.patch
mm-rmap-rename-anon_vma_interval_tree_-params-and-use-pgoff_t.patch
mm-rmap-rename-anon_vma_interval_tree_-to-anon_rmap_tree_.patch
maintainers-move-mm-interval_treec-to-rmap-section.patch
mm-vma-introduce-and-use-vmg_pages-vmg__pgoff.patch
mm-vma-clean-up-anon_vma_compatible.patch
mm-vma-refactor-vmg_adjust_set_range-for-clarity.patch
mm-vma-minor-cleanup-of-expand_.patch
mm-introduce-and-use-linear_page_delta.patch
mm-vma-use-vma_start_pgoff-linear_page_index-in-mm-code.patch
mm-prefer-vma__pgoff-to-vma-vm_pgoff-in-kernel.patch
mm-vma-remove-duplicative-vma_pgoff_offset-helper.patch
mm-use-linear_page_-consistently.patch
mm-vma-introduce-vma_assert_can_modify.patch
mm-vma-add-and-use-vma__pgoff.patch
mm-vma-move-__install_special_mapping-to-vmac.patch
mm-vma-make-vma_set_range-static-drop-insert_vm_struct-decl.patch
mm-vma-update-vma_shrink-to-not-pass-start-pgoff-parameters.patch
mm-vma-update-vmg_adjust_set_range-to-offset-pgoff-instead.patch
mm-vma-slightly-rework-the-anonymous-check-in-__mmap_new_vma.patch
mm-vma-introduce-and-use-vma_set_pgoff.patch
mm-vma-correct-incorrect-vmah-inclusion.patch
mm-vma-use-guard-clauses-in-can_vma_merge_.patch
tools-testing-vma-default-vma-mm-flag-bits-to-64-bit.patch
tools-testing-vma-output-compared-expression-on-assert_.patch
mm-introduce-vma_flags_can_grow-and-vma_can_grow.patch
mm-vma-update-do_mmap-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-convert-__get_unmapped_area-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-update-generic_get_unmapped_area-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-prefer-mm-def_vma_flags-in-mm-logic.patch
mm-vma-convert-vm_pgprot_modify-to-use-vma_flags_t-and-rename.patch
mm-vma-rename-vma_get_page_prot-to-vma_flags_to_page_prot.patch
mm-introduce-vma_get_page_prot-and-use-it.patch
mm-vma-update-create_init_stack_vma-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-vma-convert-miscellaneous-uses-of-vma-flags-in-core-mm.patch
mm-mlock-convert-mlock-code-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-mprotect-convert-mprotect-code-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch
mm-mremap-convert-mremap-code-to-use-vma_flags_t.patch