From: Hao Ge <hao.ge@linux.dev>
To: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>,
Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@kernel.org>,
Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-trace-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Hao Ge <hao.ge@linux.dev>,
stable@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v2] tracing: Fix crash in print_graph_function_event()
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2026 16:03:51 +0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20261015080351.121316-1-hao.ge@linux.dev> (raw)
tracing_set_tracer() assigns the flags of the newly selected tracer
with:
tr->current_trace_flags = t->flags ? : t->tracer->flags;
If the new tracer defines neither static flags nor default flags, like
hwlat, irqsoff or wakeup, add_tracer() has no per instance flags copy
for it, and both operands are NULL, so tr->current_trace_flags ends up
being NULL as well.
The ring buffer is not cleared when switching tracers: it is reset
inside tracer_init(), after current_trace_flags was already assigned.
If the buffer still holds function_graph entries of the previous
tracer, printing one of them dereferences the NULL pointer. This was
hit by cat trace during an ftrace stress test:
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
#PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
RIP: 0010:print_graph_function_event+0xe/0x20
Call Trace:
s_show+0x4d/0x110
seq_read_iter+0x2d4/0x490
seq_read+0x130/0x170
vfs_read+0xb5/0x370
ksys_read+0x6d/0xe0
do_syscall_64+0xbc/0x450
The snapshot buffer is not reset at all, so this can be reproduced
without a race:
echo function_graph > /sys/kernel/tracing/current_tracer
echo 1 > /sys/kernel/tracing/snapshot
echo hwlat > /sys/kernel/tracing/current_tracer
cat /sys/kernel/tracing/snapshot
Rather than teaching every user of tr->current_trace_flags about this
corner case, make sure it is never NULL: when the newly selected
tracer has no flags at all, tracing_set_tracer() falls back to a
static empty no_tracer_flags. run_tracer_selftest() can hit the same
case, so the same fallback is added there too. The existing users
already handle opts == NULL, so these tracers keep behaving as before.
Fixes: e29aa918a928 ("tracing: Have function graph tracer define options per instance")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Suggested-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Signed-off-by: Hao Ge <hao.ge@linux.dev>
---
Changes in v2:
- Rework per Steve's suggestion. v1 could trip the WARN_ON_ONCE() in
add_tracer() at boot, when an instance was created before the tracer
registers.
v1 Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260920042139.70736-1-hao.ge@linux.dev/
---
kernel/trace/trace.c | 10 ++++++++++
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)
diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace.c b/kernel/trace/trace.c
index e4a490d3d08c..fba9521d2511 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace.c
@@ -99,6 +99,12 @@ struct tracers {
struct tracer_flags *flags;
};
+/*
+ * Tracers that do not define their own flags use these empty flags,
+ * as tr->current_trace_flags must never be NULL.
+ */
+static struct tracer_flags no_tracer_flags;
+
/*
* To prevent the comm cache from being overwritten when no
* tracing is active, only save the comm when a trace event
@@ -1319,6 +1325,8 @@ static int run_tracer_selftest(struct tracer *type)
tr->current_trace = type;
tr->current_trace_flags = type->flags ? : type->default_flags;
+ if (!tr->current_trace_flags)
+ tr->current_trace_flags = &no_tracer_flags;
#ifdef CONFIG_TRACER_MAX_TRACE
if (tracer_uses_snapshot(type)) {
@@ -5090,6 +5098,8 @@ int tracing_set_tracer(struct trace_array *tr, const char *buf)
}
tr->current_trace_flags = t->flags ? : t->tracer->flags;
+ if (!tr->current_trace_flags)
+ tr->current_trace_flags = &no_tracer_flags;
if (trace->init) {
ret = tracer_init(trace, tr);
--
2.25.1
next reply other threads:[~2026-10-15 8:02 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-10-15 8:03 Hao Ge [this message]
2026-10-15 8:14 ` [PATCH v2] tracing: Fix crash in print_graph_function_event() sashiko-bot
2026-10-15 13:19 ` Hao Ge
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