* [PATCH v2 4/4] ksm: add find_mergeable_vma_locked() to use per-VMA locking
2026-11-02 13:24 [PATCH v2 0/4] mm/ksm: use per-VMA locking to reduce mmap_lock contention xu.xin
@ 2026-11-02 13:31 ` xu.xin
2026-11-03 13:31 ` sashiko-bot
0 siblings, 1 reply; 3+ messages in thread
From: xu.xin @ 2026-11-02 13:31 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: xu.xin
Cc: acme, adrian.hunter, agordeev, akpm, alexander.shishkin, apopple,
baohua, baolin.wang, borntraeger, byungchul, chengming.zhou,
david, dev.jain, gerald.schaefer, gor, gourry, harry, hca,
irogers, james.clark, jannh, jolsa, joshua.hahnjy, kas,
lance.yang, liam, linux-kernel, linux-mm, linux-s390, ljs,
mark.rutland, matthew.brost, mhiramat, mhocko, mingo, namhyung,
nico.pache, oleg, peterz, riel, rppt, ryan.roberts, surenb, svens,
usama.arif, vbabka, ying.huang, ziy, xialonglong2025,
Longlong Xia
From: Xu Xin <xu.xin@linux.dev>
Longlong Xia reported that get_mergeable_page() takes mmap_read_lock()
on every merge, which becomes a contention point under load [1]. David
Hildenbrand suggested switching to per-VMA locking to avoid the
process-wide mmap lock [2].
Add find_mergeable_vma_locked(), which is similar to find_tcp_vma(),
using the universal per-VMA locking helper vma_start_read_unlocked() to
look up and read-lock a VM_MERGEABLE VMA without taking
mmap_read_lock(). All KSM call sites that previously used
find_mergeable_vma() under mmap_read_lock() are converted to the new
helper, and the locking in get_mergeable_page() is switched to
PGWALK_VMA_RDLOCK_VERIFY so that folio_walk_start() can verify the
per-VMA lock is held.
Switching to per-VMA locking also changes how ksmd is synchronized with
a process that is exiting. __ksm_exit() previously relied on a plain
mmap_write_lock() to serialize against ksmd, but that no longer blocks
a ksmd walk that holds only a per-VMA read lock. So __ksm_exit() now
also write-locks every VMA (vma_start_write()) while holding
mmap_write_lock(): this blocks until any in-flight ksmd walk drops its
per-VMA read lock, and prevents new ones from starting, since
vma_start_read_unlocked() backs out when a VMA is write-locked. The
per-VMA write locks are released by mmap_write_unlock() via
vma_end_write_all(). This is safe because __mmput() runs ksm_exit()
after mm_users has gone to zero and before exit_mmap() frees the page
tables, so any new ksmd walk backs out via ksm_test_exit().
Performance
===========
As a test, I construct a testcase which follows the approach: Create
one victim and several churner threads sharing one mm_struct [3]; The
victim registers a 32 MiB anonymous VM_MERGEABLE region containing
8192 pages totally:churners hammer mmap_lock via mmap/munmap
repeatedly; ksmd merges the victim's pages; Compare latency baseline
VS this per-VMA patch.
Before patched After Patched
0 churner: 1.627 seconds 1.426 seconds
4 churners: 72.45 seconds 36.61 seconds
In conclusion, when no mmap_lock contention (0 churner), there is little
difference between the baseline kernel and the per-VMA optimized kernel;
But under interference from 4 churner threads, the merge time of the
per-VMA KSM-optimized kernel is significantly reduced by 50%.
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260909023507.1408925-1-xialonglong2025@163.com/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/all/91cf8129-d705-4ebd-b420-129bab7ed261@kernel.org/
[3] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260911162242418ODBbr9wspxxIXDS8uvpeZ@zte.com.cn/
Reported-by: Longlong Xia <xialonglong@kylinos.cn>
Signed-off-by: Xu Xin <xu.xin@linux.dev>
---
mm/ksm.c | 82 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------
1 file changed, 60 insertions(+), 22 deletions(-)
diff --git a/mm/ksm.c b/mm/ksm.c
index 84d363dabdc8..64f9e803b99e 100644
--- a/mm/ksm.c
+++ b/mm/ksm.c
@@ -669,6 +669,8 @@ enum ksm_walk_lock {
KSM_WALK_MMAP_RDLOCK,
/* walk under mmap_write_lock() */
KSM_WALK_MMAP_WRLOCK,
+ /* walk with the vma already read-locked (per-VMA locking) */
+ KSM_WALK_VMA_RDLOCK,
};
static enum page_walk_lock ksm_walk_lock_to_pgwalk(enum ksm_walk_lock lock)
@@ -676,6 +678,8 @@ static enum page_walk_lock ksm_walk_lock_to_pgwalk(enum ksm_walk_lock lock)
switch (lock) {
case KSM_WALK_MMAP_WRLOCK:
return PGWALK_WRLOCK;
+ case KSM_WALK_VMA_RDLOCK:
+ return PGWALK_VMA_RDLOCK_VERIFY;
default:
return PGWALK_RDLOCK;
}
@@ -784,15 +788,36 @@ static bool vma_ksm_compatible(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
return ksm_compatible(vma->vm_file, vma->flags);
}
-static struct vm_area_struct *find_mergeable_vma(struct mm_struct *mm,
- unsigned long addr)
+/**
+ * find_mergeable_vma_locked() - Find the VMA covering 'address' which is
+ * VM_MERGEABLE and read-lock it by per-VMA locks. Please use vma_end_read()
+ * to unlock vma after finishing reading the VMA (non-NULL).
+ *
+ * Return: If a VMA exists which spans @address, return that VMA, read-locked.
+ * If no VMA is mapped there or, very unlikely, a reference count overflow
+ * occurred, return NULL, and no read-locked.
+ *
+ * IMPORTANT: If a VMA exists but is not VM_MERGEABLE or has no anon_vma,
+ * this function releases the per-VMA read lock before returning NULL.
+ * Callers must NOT call vma_end_read() on a NULL return value.
+ */
+static struct vm_area_struct *find_mergeable_vma_locked(struct mm_struct *mm,
+ unsigned long address)
{
struct vm_area_struct *vma;
+
if (ksm_test_exit(mm))
return NULL;
- vma = vma_lookup(mm, addr);
- if (!vma || !(vma->vm_flags & VM_MERGEABLE) || !vma_has_anon_rmap(vma))
+
+ vma = vma_start_read_unlocked(mm, address);
+ if (!vma)
return NULL;
+
+ if (!(vma->vm_flags & VM_MERGEABLE) || !vma->anon_vma) {
+ vma_end_read(vma);
+ return NULL;
+ }
+
return vma;
}
@@ -818,11 +843,12 @@ static void break_cow(struct ksm_rmap_item *rmap_item)
*/
rmap_item->linear_page_index = 0;
- mmap_read_lock(mm);
- vma = find_mergeable_vma(mm, addr);
- if (vma)
- break_ksm(vma, addr, addr + PAGE_SIZE, KSM_WALK_MMAP_RDLOCK);
- mmap_read_unlock(mm);
+ vma = find_mergeable_vma_locked(mm, addr);
+ if (!vma)
+ return;
+
+ break_ksm(vma, addr, addr + PAGE_SIZE, KSM_WALK_VMA_RDLOCK);
+ vma_end_read(vma);
}
static struct page *get_mergeable_page(struct ksm_rmap_item *rmap_item)
@@ -833,13 +859,12 @@ static struct page *get_mergeable_page(struct ksm_rmap_item *rmap_item)
struct page *page = NULL;
struct folio *folio;
struct folio_walk fw = {
- .walk_lock = PGWALK_RDLOCK,
+ .walk_lock = PGWALK_VMA_RDLOCK_VERIFY,
};
- mmap_read_lock(mm);
- vma = find_mergeable_vma(mm, addr);
+ vma = find_mergeable_vma_locked(mm, addr);
if (!vma)
- goto out;
+ return NULL;
folio = folio_walk_start(&fw, vma, addr, 0);
if (folio) {
@@ -850,12 +875,12 @@ static struct page *get_mergeable_page(struct ksm_rmap_item *rmap_item)
}
folio_walk_end(&fw, vma);
}
-out:
+
if (page) {
flush_anon_page(vma, page, addr);
flush_dcache_page(page);
}
- mmap_read_unlock(mm);
+ vma_end_read(vma);
return page;
}
@@ -1596,14 +1621,14 @@ static int try_to_merge_with_zero_page(struct ksm_rmap_item *rmap_item,
if (ksm_use_zero_pages && (rmap_item->oldchecksum == zero_checksum)) {
struct vm_area_struct *vma;
- mmap_read_lock(mm);
- vma = find_mergeable_vma(mm, rmap_item->address);
+ vma = find_mergeable_vma_locked(mm, rmap_item->address);
if (vma) {
err = try_to_merge_one_page(vma, page,
ZERO_PAGE(rmap_item->address));
trace_ksm_merge_one_page(
page_to_pfn(ZERO_PAGE(rmap_item->address)),
rmap_item, mm, err);
+ vma_end_read(vma);
} else {
/*
* If the vma is out of date, we do not need to
@@ -1611,7 +1636,6 @@ static int try_to_merge_with_zero_page(struct ksm_rmap_item *rmap_item,
*/
err = 0;
}
- mmap_read_unlock(mm);
}
return err;
@@ -1630,10 +1654,9 @@ static int try_to_merge_with_ksm_page(struct ksm_rmap_item *rmap_item,
struct vm_area_struct *vma;
int err = -EFAULT;
- mmap_read_lock(mm);
- vma = find_mergeable_vma(mm, rmap_item->address);
+ vma = find_mergeable_vma_locked(mm, rmap_item->address);
if (!vma)
- goto out;
+ goto out_trace;
err = try_to_merge_one_page(vma, page, kpage);
if (err)
@@ -1653,7 +1676,8 @@ static int try_to_merge_with_ksm_page(struct ksm_rmap_item *rmap_item,
rmap_item->linear_page_index = linear_anon_page_index(vma, rmap_item->address);
get_anon_vma(vma->anon_vma);
out:
- mmap_read_unlock(mm);
+ vma_end_read(vma);
+out_trace:
trace_ksm_merge_with_ksm_page(kpage, page_to_pfn(kpage ? kpage : page),
rmap_item, mm, err);
return err;
@@ -3119,6 +3143,7 @@ void __ksm_exit(struct mm_struct *mm)
{
struct ksm_mm_slot *mm_slot = NULL;
struct mm_slot *slot;
+ struct vm_area_struct *vma;
int easy_to_free = 0;
/*
@@ -3153,7 +3178,20 @@ void __ksm_exit(struct mm_struct *mm)
mm_flags_clear(MMF_VM_MERGEABLE, mm);
mmdrop(mm);
} else if (mm_slot) {
+ /*
+ * ksmd may be walking this mm's page tables under a per-VMA
+ * read lock (see find_mergeable_vma_locked()). A plain
+ * mmap_write_lock() does not exclude such readers, so also
+ * write-lock every VMA: this blocks until any in-flight ksmd
+ * walk drops its per-VMA read lock, and prevents new ones
+ * from starting (vma_start_read_unlocked() backs out when a
+ * VMA is write-locked). The per-VMA write locks are released
+ * by mmap_write_unlock() via vma_end_write_all().
+ */
mmap_write_lock(mm);
+ VMA_ITERATOR(vmi, mm, 0);
+ for_each_vma(vmi, vma)
+ vma_start_write(vma);
mmap_write_unlock(mm);
}
--
2.34.1
^ permalink raw reply related [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
* Re: [PATCH v2 4/4] ksm: add find_mergeable_vma_locked() to use per-VMA locking
2026-11-02 13:31 ` [PATCH v2 4/4] ksm: add find_mergeable_vma_locked() to use per-VMA locking xu.xin
@ 2026-11-03 13:31 ` sashiko-bot
0 siblings, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: sashiko-bot @ 2026-11-03 13:31 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: xu.xin
Cc: acme, adrian.hunter, Alexander Gordeev, akpm, alexander.shishkin,
apopple, baohua, baolin.wang, Christian Borntraeger, byungchul,
chengming.zhou, david, dev.jain, gerald.schaefer, Vasily Gorbik,
gourry, harry, Heiko Carstens, irogers, james.clark, jannh, jolsa,
joshua.hahnjy, kas, lance.yang, liam, linux-mm, linux-s390, ljs,
mark.rutland, matthew.brost, mhiramat, mhocko, mingo, namhyung,
nico.pache, oleg, peterz, riel, rppt, ryan.roberts, surenb, svens,
usama.arif, vbabka, ying.huang, ziy, xialonglong2025,
Longlong Xia
Thank you for your contribution! Sashiko AI review found 4 potential issue(s) to consider:
- [Critical] mm: ksm: race with exit_mmap() in find_mergeable_vma_locked() and __ksm_exit()
- [High] mm: ksm: missing FAULT_FLAG_VMA_LOCK in break_ksm() under per-VMA read lock
- [Low] mm: ksm: unmarked vma->anon_vma read in find_mergeable_vma_locked()
- [Low] mm: ksm: missing kernel-doc params for find_mergeable_vma_locked()
--
commit 984120154ab3ef7af44dc3dbb32b8522a336aefe
Author: Xu Xin <xu.xin@linux.dev>
ksm: add find_mergeable_vma_locked() to use per-VMA locking
This commit introduces find_mergeable_vma_locked() to look up and read-lock
VM_MERGEABLE VMAs using per-VMA locks instead of mmap_read_lock() across KSM
page-scanning and merging paths. It also updates __ksm_exit() to write-lock
each VMA under mmap_write_lock() to synchronize with in-flight per-VMA readers
when a process exits.
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260909023507.1408925-1-xialonglong2025@163.com/
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/91cf8129-d705-4ebd-b420-129bab7ed261@kernel.org/
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260911162242418ODBbr9wspxxIXDS8uvpeZ@zte.com.cn/
> diff --git a/mm/ksm.c b/mm/ksm.c
> index 84d363dabdc8a..64f9e803b99e2 100644
> --- a/mm/ksm.c
> +++ b/mm/ksm.c
> @@ -669,6 +669,8 @@ enum ksm_walk_lock {
> KSM_WALK_MMAP_RDLOCK,
> /* walk under mmap_write_lock() */
> KSM_WALK_MMAP_WRLOCK,
> + /* walk with the vma already read-locked (per-VMA locking) */
> + KSM_WALK_VMA_RDLOCK,
> };
>
> static enum page_walk_lock ksm_walk_lock_to_pgwalk(enum ksm_walk_lock lock)
> @@ -676,6 +678,8 @@ static enum page_walk_lock ksm_walk_lock_to_pgwalk(enum ksm_walk_lock lock)
> switch (lock) {
> case KSM_WALK_MMAP_WRLOCK:
> return PGWALK_WRLOCK;
> + case KSM_WALK_VMA_RDLOCK:
> + return PGWALK_VMA_RDLOCK_VERIFY;
> default:
> return PGWALK_RDLOCK;
> }
> @@ -784,15 +788,36 @@ static bool vma_ksm_compatible(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
> return ksm_compatible(vma->vm_file, vma->flags);
> }
>
> -static struct vm_area_struct *find_mergeable_vma(struct mm_struct *mm,
> - unsigned long addr)
> +/**
> + * find_mergeable_vma_locked() - Find the VMA covering 'address' which is
> + * VM_MERGEABLE and read-lock it by per-VMA locks. Please use vma_end_read()
> + * to unlock vma after finishing reading the VMA (non-NULL).
> + *
> + * Return: If a VMA exists which spans @address, return that VMA, read-locked.
> + * If no VMA is mapped there or, very unlikely, a reference count overflow
> + * occurred, return NULL, and no read-locked.
> + *
> + * IMPORTANT: If a VMA exists but is not VM_MERGEABLE or has no anon_vma,
> + * this function releases the per-VMA read lock before returning NULL.
> + * Callers must NOT call vma_end_read() on a NULL return value.
> + */
> +static struct vm_area_struct *find_mergeable_vma_locked(struct mm_struct *mm,
> + unsigned long address)
[Severity: Low]
This isn't a bug, but since this comment above find_mergeable_vma_locked() in
mm/ksm.c starts with the /** kernel-doc marker, won't scripts/kernel-doc (when
building with W=1) warn about the missing @mm and @address parameter
descriptions?
> {
> struct vm_area_struct *vma;
> +
> if (ksm_test_exit(mm))
> return NULL;
> - vma = vma_lookup(mm, addr);
> - if (!vma || !(vma->vm_flags & VM_MERGEABLE) || !vma_has_anon_rmap(vma))
> +
> + vma = vma_start_read_unlocked(mm, address);
> + if (!vma)
> return NULL;
> +
> + if (!(vma->vm_flags & VM_MERGEABLE) || !vma->anon_vma) {
[Severity: Low]
In find_mergeable_vma_locked() in mm/ksm.c, replacing !vma_has_anon_rmap(vma)
with a plain !vma->anon_vma read under the per-VMA read lock drops the
data_race() annotation and vma_assert_stabilised() check from
vma_has_anon_rmap() in mm/vma.h:
mm/vma.h:vma_has_anon_rmap() {
if (vma_is_attached(vma))
vma_assert_stabilised(vma);
/* KCSAN gets confused about the optimistic check. Silence it. */
return data_race(vma->anon_vma);
}
When another thread concurrently faults in the first anonymous page on the
same VMA and initializes vma->anon_vma in __anon_vma_prepare() under
mm->page_table_lock, won't this trigger a KCSAN data-race warning? Should
find_mergeable_vma_locked() continue to use !vma_has_anon_rmap(vma) here?
> + vma_end_read(vma);
> + return NULL;
> + }
> +
> return vma;
> }
>
> @@ -818,11 +843,12 @@ static void break_cow(struct ksm_rmap_item *rmap_item)
> */
> rmap_item->linear_page_index = 0;
>
> - mmap_read_lock(mm);
> - vma = find_mergeable_vma(mm, addr);
> - if (vma)
> - break_ksm(vma, addr, addr + PAGE_SIZE, KSM_WALK_MMAP_RDLOCK);
> - mmap_read_unlock(mm);
> + vma = find_mergeable_vma_locked(mm, addr);
> + if (!vma)
> + return;
> +
> + break_ksm(vma, addr, addr + PAGE_SIZE, KSM_WALK_VMA_RDLOCK);
> + vma_end_read(vma);
> }
[Severity: High]
When break_cow() in mm/ksm.c calls break_ksm() with KSM_WALK_VMA_RDLOCK, only
the per-VMA read lock is held, without mm->mmap_lock. However, break_ksm()
still calls handle_mm_fault() without FAULT_FLAG_VMA_LOCK:
mm/ksm.c:break_ksm() {
...
do {
int ksm_page;
cond_resched();
ksm_page = walk_page_range_vma(vma, addr, end, &ops, &addr);
if (ksm_page <= 0)
return ksm_page;
ret = handle_mm_fault(vma, addr,
FAULT_FLAG_UNSHARE | FAULT_FLAG_REMOTE,
NULL);
} while (!(ret & (VM_FAULT_SIGBUS | VM_FAULT_SIGSEGV | VM_FAULT_OOM)));
}
Because break_ksm_pmd_entry() drops the PTE lock before returning, the PTE at
addr can be modified (for example, zapped by concurrent MADV_DONTNEED or
truncation, or turned into a device-private swap entry) before
handle_pte_fault() inspects it.
Without FAULT_FLAG_VMA_LOCK set in vmf->flags, handle_mm_fault() and its
callees assume mm->mmap_lock is held:
1. In mm/memory.c, vmf_can_call_fault() checks !(vmf->flags &
FAULT_FLAG_VMA_LOCK) and allows do_read_fault() to invoke
vma->vm_ops->fault() on a ksm_compatible() MAP_PRIVATE file-backed VMA
without holding mm->mmap_lock.
2. In include/linux/mm.h, assert_fault_locked() checks
mmap_assert_locked(vmf->vma->vm_mm) when FAULT_FLAG_VMA_LOCK is not set,
and release_fault_lock() calls mmap_read_unlock() on the unheld
mm->mmap_lock (e.g. if handle_userfault() or migration entry waiting is
reached).
3. If FAULT_FLAG_VMA_LOCK were passed, any path returning VM_FAULT_RETRY
would release the per-VMA read lock via vma_end_read(vma), which neither
the loop in break_ksm() nor the unconditional vma_end_read(vma) in
break_cow() accounts for.
Can break_ksm() safely call handle_mm_fault() under only a per-VMA read lock?
[ ... ]
> @@ -3153,7 +3178,20 @@ void __ksm_exit(struct mm_struct *mm)
> mm_flags_clear(MMF_VM_MERGEABLE, mm);
> mmdrop(mm);
> } else if (mm_slot) {
> + /*
> + * ksmd may be walking this mm's page tables under a per-VMA
> + * read lock (see find_mergeable_vma_locked()). A plain
> + * mmap_write_lock() does not exclude such readers, so also
> + * write-lock every VMA: this blocks until any in-flight ksmd
> + * walk drops its per-VMA read lock, and prevents new ones
> + * from starting (vma_start_read_unlocked() backs out when a
> + * VMA is write-locked). The per-VMA write locks are released
> + * by mmap_write_unlock() via vma_end_write_all().
> + */
> mmap_write_lock(mm);
> + VMA_ITERATOR(vmi, mm, 0);
> + for_each_vma(vmi, vma)
> + vma_start_write(vma);
> mmap_write_unlock(mm);
> }
[Severity: Critical]
Does this synchronization in __ksm_exit() in mm/ksm.c actually prevent ksmd
from acquiring a per-VMA read lock in find_mergeable_vma_locked() and racing
with exit_mmap()?
Unlike normal callers of vma_start_read_unlocked(), ksmd only holds mm_count
(via mmgrab()), not mm_users. Previously, callers took mmap_read_lock(mm)
first and then checked ksm_test_exit(mm) inside find_mergeable_vma() under
mmap_read_lock(mm), which serialized against mmap_write_lock(mm) in
__ksm_exit().
With this patch, find_mergeable_vma_locked() in mm/ksm.c checks
ksm_test_exit(mm) locklessly before calling vma_start_read_unlocked(mm,
address), and never re-checks ksm_test_exit(mm) after acquiring the per-VMA
read lock:
mm/ksm.c:find_mergeable_vma_locked() {
if (ksm_test_exit(mm))
return NULL;
vma = vma_start_read_unlocked(mm, address);
if (!vma)
return NULL;
...
}
Contrary to the comment in __ksm_exit(), vma_start_read_unlocked() in
mm/mmap_lock.c does not back out when a VMA is write-locked; when
lock_vma_under_rcu() returns NULL, it enters the slow path and blocks on
mmap_read_lock(mm):
mm/mmap_lock.c:vma_start_read_unlocked() {
vma = lock_vma_under_rcu(mm, address);
if (vma)
return vma;
/* Slow path: preclude VMA writers by temporarily getting mmap read lock. */
mmap_read_lock(mm);
vma = vma_lookup(mm, address);
if (vma && !vma_start_read_locked(vma))
vma = NULL;
mmap_read_unlock(mm);
return vma;
}
And in __ksm_exit(), mmap_write_unlock(mm) calls vma_end_write_all(mm), which
immediately releases all of the per-VMA write locks just acquired.
If mm->mm_users drops to 0 right after find_mergeable_vma_locked() passes
ksm_test_exit(mm) (in get_mergeable_page(), try_to_merge_with_zero_page(),
try_to_merge_with_ksm_page(), or break_cow()):
1. If ksmd calls vma_start_read_unlocked() while __ksm_exit() holds
mmap_write_lock(mm), lock_vma_under_rcu() fails and ksmd waits on
mmap_read_lock(mm) in the slow path. As soon as __ksm_exit() calls
mmap_write_unlock(mm) (which also calls vma_end_write_all(mm)), ksmd
acquires mmap_read_lock(mm), looks up the VMA, and acquires the per-VMA
read lock via vma_start_read_locked(vma). Or if ksmd enters
vma_start_read_unlocked() right after __ksm_exit() calls
mmap_write_unlock(mm), lock_vma_under_rcu() succeeds directly because the
per-VMA write locks were already released.
Because find_mergeable_vma_locked() does not re-check ksm_test_exit(mm),
ksmd proceeds to walk and modify page tables (and invoke MMU notifiers)
under only the per-VMA read lock after __ksm_exit() and
mmu_notifier_release() have finished, racing with exit_mmap() running
unmap_vmas() and free_pgtables() (which frees page tables before
tear_down_vmas() detaches the VMAs).
2. Because mm_users is not pinned across vma_start_read_unlocked(),
exit_mmap() in mm/mmap.c can run concurrently with
vma_start_read_unlocked():
mm/mmap.c:exit_mmap() {
...
mmap_write_lock(mm);
unmap.mm_wr_locked = true;
mt_clear_in_rcu(&mm->mm_mt);
unmap_pgtable_init(&unmap, &vmi);
free_pgtables(&tlb, &unmap);
tlb_finish_mmu(&tlb);
nr_accounted = tear_down_vmas(mm, &vmi, vma, ULONG_MAX);
destroy:
__mt_destroy(&mm->mm_mt);
mmap_write_unlock(mm);
...
}
In exit_mmap(), mt_clear_in_rcu(&mm->mm_mt) clears MT_FLAGS_USE_RCU and
__mt_destroy(&mm->mm_mt) frees maple tree nodes synchronously without RCU
callbacks, while lock_vma_under_rcu() -> mas_walk() in ksmd may still be
walking mm->mm_mt under rcu_read_lock(), leading to a use-after-free on
maple tree nodes (or a maple tree lockdep warning in the slow path's
vma_lookup() after __mt_destroy() clears MT_FLAGS_LOCK_EXTERN).
--
Sashiko AI review · https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20261102132416.300084-1-xu.xin@linux.dev?part=4
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
* Re: [PATCH v2 4/4] ksm: add find_mergeable_vma_locked() to use per-VMA locking
@ 2026-11-09 17:43 kernel test robot
0 siblings, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: kernel test robot @ 2026-11-09 17:43 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: oe-kbuild; +Cc: lkp
::::::
:::::: Manual check reason: "linux-review patch is more than 7 days old, verify it wasn't already superseded"
::::::
BCC: lkp@intel.com
CC: oe-kbuild-all@lists.linux.dev
In-Reply-To: <20261102133103.302832-1-xu.xin@linux.dev>
References: <20261102133103.302832-1-xu.xin@linux.dev>
TO: xu.xin@linux.dev
TO: xu.xin@linux.dev
CC: acme@kernel.org
CC: adrian.hunter@intel.com
CC: agordeev@linux.ibm.com
CC: akpm@linux-foundation.org
CC: alexander.shishkin@linux.intel.com
CC: apopple@nvidia.com
CC: baohua@kernel.org
CC: baolin.wang@linux.alibaba.com
CC: borntraeger@linux.ibm.com
CC: byungchul@sk.com
CC: chengming.zhou@linux.dev
CC: david@kernel.org
CC: dev.jain@arm.com
CC: gerald.schaefer@linux.ibm.com
CC: gor@linux.ibm.com
CC: gourry@gourry.net
CC: harry@kernel.org
CC: hca@linux.ibm.com
CC: irogers@google.com
CC: james.clark@linaro.org
CC: jannh@google.com
CC: jolsa@kernel.org
CC: joshua.hahnjy@gmail.com
CC: kas@kernel.org
CC: lance.yang@linux.dev
CC: liam@infradead.org
CC: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
CC: linux-mm@kvack.org
CC: linux-s390@vger.kernel.org
Hi,
kernel test robot noticed the following build warnings:
[auto build test WARNING on akpm-mm/mm-everything]
url: https://github.com/intel-lab-lkp/linux/commits/xu-xin-linux-dev/mm-pagewalk-delete-the-unused-member/20261102-212844
base: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/mm.git mm-everything
patch link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20261102133103.302832-1-xu.xin%40linux.dev
patch subject: [PATCH v2 4/4] ksm: add find_mergeable_vma_locked() to use per-VMA locking
:::::: branch date: 7 days ago
:::::: commit date: 7 days ago
config: alpha-allyesconfig (https://download.01.org/0day-ci/archive/20261110/202611100159.ZLtmDECp-lkp@intel.com/config)
compiler: alpha-linux-gcc (GCC) 16.2.0
reproduce (this is a W=1 build): (https://download.01.org/0day-ci/archive/20261110/202611100159.ZLtmDECp-lkp@intel.com/reproduce)
If you fix the issue in a separate patch/commit (i.e. not just a new version of
the same patch/commit), kindly add following tags
| Reported-by: kernel test robot <lkp@intel.com>
| Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/r/202611100159.ZLtmDECp-lkp@intel.com/
All warnings (new ones prefixed by >>):
>> Warning: mm/ksm.c:805 function parameter 'mm' not described in 'find_mergeable_vma_locked'
>> Warning: mm/ksm.c:805 function parameter 'address' not described in 'find_mergeable_vma_locked'
>> Warning: mm/ksm.c:805 function parameter 'mm' not described in 'find_mergeable_vma_locked'
>> Warning: mm/ksm.c:805 function parameter 'address' not described in 'find_mergeable_vma_locked'
--
0-DAY CI Kernel Test Service
https://github.com/intel/lkp-tests/wiki
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2026-11-09 17:43 UTC | newest]
Thread overview: 3+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
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2026-11-09 17:43 [PATCH v2 4/4] ksm: add find_mergeable_vma_locked() to use per-VMA locking kernel test robot
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2026-11-02 13:24 [PATCH v2 0/4] mm/ksm: use per-VMA locking to reduce mmap_lock contention xu.xin
2026-11-02 13:31 ` [PATCH v2 4/4] ksm: add find_mergeable_vma_locked() to use per-VMA locking xu.xin
2026-11-03 13:31 ` sashiko-bot
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