Re: [PATCH v2 1/2] mm: free unused page table allocated by do_set_pmd()

[Usama Arif <usama.arif@linux.dev>]

On Fri, 06 Nov 2026 13:36:12 +0100 "David Hildenbrand (Arm)" <david@kernel.org> wrote:

> do_set_pmd() can allocate vmf->prealloc_pte on architectures that need a
> deposited page table, such as PowerPC with the hash MMU. If the PMD is
> no longer empty when it takes the PMD lock, it returns VM_FAULT_FALLBACK
> without consuming that table.
> 
> Since collapse_pte_mapped_thp() uses mmap_read_lock(), a concurrent
> userfaultfd operation can install a PTE table before taking the folio
> lock. If that races with set_huge_pmd(), the unused preallocated table
> is lost when its local vm_fault goes out of scope.
> 
> Track whether do_set_pmd() allocated the table and free it after dropping
> the PMD lock if it was not consumed. Preserve any preallocated table
> supplied by the caller for PTE fallback. Successful PMD installation
> consumes the table and clears the pointer.
> 
> Returning without a preallocated table matches the existing behavior on
> architectures that do not need a deposited table. All callers
> already handle that case.
> 
> Fixes: 1043173eb5eb ("mm/khugepaged: collapse_pte_mapped_thp() with mmap_read_lock()")
> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> Reviewed-by: Kiryl Shutsemau (Meta) <kas@kernel.org>
> Signed-off-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) <david@kernel.org>
> ---
>  mm/memory.c | 6 ++++++
>  1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)

Acked-by: Usama Arif <usama.arif@linux.dev>

Reminded me of lazy pagetable deposit series :)

> 
> diff --git a/mm/memory.c b/mm/memory.c
> index becf53a2a0944..421064aef3cf0 100644
> --- a/mm/memory.c
> +++ b/mm/memory.c
> @@ -5687,6 +5687,7 @@ vm_fault_t do_set_pmd(struct vm_fault *vmf, struct folio *folio, struct page *pa
>  	struct vm_area_struct *vma = vmf->vma;
>  	bool write = vmf->flags & FAULT_FLAG_WRITE;
>  	unsigned long haddr = vmf->address & HPAGE_PMD_MASK;
> +	bool pgtable_allocated = false;
>  	pmd_t entry;
>  	vm_fault_t ret = VM_FAULT_FALLBACK;
>  
> @@ -5725,6 +5726,7 @@ vm_fault_t do_set_pmd(struct vm_fault *vmf, struct folio *folio, struct page *pa
>  		vmf->prealloc_pte = pte_alloc_one(vma->vm_mm);
>  		if (!vmf->prealloc_pte)
>  			return VM_FAULT_OOM;
> +		pgtable_allocated = true;
>  	}
>  
>  	vmf->ptl = pmd_lock(vma->vm_mm, vmf->pmd);
> @@ -5755,6 +5757,10 @@ vm_fault_t do_set_pmd(struct vm_fault *vmf, struct folio *folio, struct page *pa
>  	count_vm_event(THP_FILE_MAPPED);
>  out:
>  	spin_unlock(vmf->ptl);
> +	if (pgtable_allocated && vmf->prealloc_pte) {
> +		pte_free(vma->vm_mm, vmf->prealloc_pte);
> +		vmf->prealloc_pte = NULL;
> +	}
>  	return ret;
>  }
>  #else
> 
> -- 
> 2.43.0
> 
>