Re: [PATCH v2] mm/memcontrol: publish null pointer before dropping css reference

[Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>]

On Tue, Oct 20, 2026 at 06:00:50PM -0700, Joshua Hahn wrote:
> struct memcg_stock_pcp hold references to cgroups that it tracks to make
> sure that the memcg never gets freed with unaccounted charges still
> living in the stock. When the cached stock goes to 0 for a memcg, its
> reference is dropped and the cached memcg pointer is set to NULL.
> 
> If that was the last reference, the css_put would free the associated
> cgroup before publishing the NULL pointer, which can be racy on 
> PREEMPT_RT. To summarize Shakeel Butt's analysis in [2],
> 
> CPU 1					CPU 2
> local_trylock() takes a per-CPU
> spinlock, which is an rcu read
> lock along with migrate_disable
> 
> drain_stock
> css_put drops the last reference
> release work is queued
> 
> kworker runs css_release_work_fn()
> call_rcu() starts grace period G
> which waits for the refill task.
> 
> <preempt>
> 					drain_all_stock
> 					is_memcg_drain_needed()
> 					enters rcu_read_lock(), but
> 					 grace period G does not wait
> 					since it started after G did
> 
> 					<prempt>
> 
> stock->cached[i] is cleared and
> unlocks. Grace period G ends,
> old is freed
> 
> 					mem_cgroup_is_descendant() reads
> 					old->css.cgroup which has just
> 					been freed.
> 
> To close this gap on PREEMPT_RT, switch the order of the referene drop
> and the publishing so that we publish the NULL pointer before dropping
> the reference. Note that this can only happen from drain_stock who can
> hold the last reference, but not on consume_stock since another
> reference will always be held. But fix this in both sites to maintain
> consistency. 
> 
> This is based on a report from Sashiko, who found this pre-existing
> issue in my page_counter_stock series [1].
> 
> [1] https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260928192349.3432886-1-joshua.hahnjy%40gmail.com
> [2] https://lore.kernel.org/all/atfMngq7nyZpt4u-@linux.dev/
> 
> Fixes: e1a366be5cb4 ("mm: memcontrol: switch to rcu protection in drain_all_stock()")
> Signed-off-by: Joshua Hahn <joshua.hahnjy@gmail.com>

Acked-by: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>