Re: [patch v2] mm: memcontrol: do not iterate uninitialized memcgs

Michal Hocko
2014-09-25T11:43:39Z

On Wed 24-09-14 22:40:55, Johannes Weiner wrote:
> Argh, buggy css_put() against the root. Hand grenades, everywhere.
> Update:
>
> ---
> From 9b0b4d72d71cd8acd7aaa58d2006c751decc8739 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
> From: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
> Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 22:00:20 -0400
> Subject: [patch] mm: memcontrol: do not iterate uninitialized memcgs
>
> The cgroup iterators yield css objects that have not yet gone through
> css_online(), but they are not complete memcgs at this point and so
> the memcg iterators should not return them. d8ad30559715 ("mm/memcg:
> iteration skip memcgs not yet fully initialized") set out to implement
> exactly this, but it uses CSS_ONLINE, a cgroup-internal flag that does
> not meet the ordering requirements for memcg, and so we still may see
> partially initialized memcgs from the iterators.

I do not see how would this happen. CSS_ONLINE is set after css_online
callback returns and mem_cgroup_css_online ends the core initialization
with mutex_unlock which should provide sufficient memory ordering
requirements (kmem is not covered but activate_kmem_mutex kmem.tcp by
proto_list_mutex). So the worst thing that might happen is that we miss
an already initialized memcg but that shouldn't matter because such a
memcg doesn't contain any tasks nor memory. memcg_has_children doesn't
rely on our iterators so important parts will not miss anything.

So I do not see any bug right now. The flag abuse is another story and I
do agree we should use proper memcg specific synchronization here as
explained by Tejun in other email.

> The cgroup core can not reasonably provide a clear answer on whether
> the object around the css has been fully initialized, as that depends
> on controller-specific locking and lifetime rules. Thus, introduce a
> memcg-specific flag that is set after the memcg has been initialized
> in css_online(), and read before mem_cgroup_iter() callers access the
> memcg members.
>
> Signed-off-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>

With updated changelog
Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.cz>

> Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> [3.12+]

This is not necessary IMO

> ---
> mm/memcontrol.c | 36 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
> 1 file changed, 31 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
> index 306b6470784c..bafdac0f724e 100644
> --- a/mm/memcontrol.c
> +++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
> @@ -292,6 +292,9 @@ struct mem_cgroup {
> /* vmpressure notifications */
> struct vmpressure vmpressure;
>
> + /* css_online() has been completed */
> + bool initialized;
> +
> /*
> * the counter to account for mem+swap usage.
> */
> @@ -1090,10 +1093,23 @@ skip_node:
> * skipping css reference should be safe.
> */
> if (next_css) {
> - if ((next_css == &root->css) ||
> - ((next_css->flags & CSS_ONLINE) &&
> - css_tryget_online(next_css)))
> - return mem_cgroup_from_css(next_css);
> + struct mem_cgroup *memcg = mem_cgroup_from_css(next_css);
> +
> + if (next_css == &root->css)
> + return memcg;
> +
> + if (css_tryget_online(next_css)) {
> + if (memcg->initialized) {
> + /*
> + * Make sure the caller's accesses to
> + * the memcg members are issued after
> + * we see this flag set.
> + */
> + smp_rmb();
> + return memcg;
> + }
> + css_put(next_css);
> + }
>
> prev_css = next_css;
> goto skip_node;
> @@ -5413,6 +5429,7 @@ mem_cgroup_css_online(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css)
> {
> struct mem_cgroup *memcg = mem_cgroup_from_css(css);
> struct mem_cgroup *parent = mem_cgroup_from_css(css->parent);
> + int ret;
>
> if (css->id > MEM_CGROUP_ID_MAX)
> return -ENOSPC;
> @@ -5449,7 +5466,16 @@ mem_cgroup_css_online(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css)
> }
> mutex_unlock(&memcg_create_mutex);
>
> - return memcg_init_kmem(memcg, &memory_cgrp_subsys);
> + ret = memcg_init_kmem(memcg, &memory_cgrp_subsys);
> + if (ret)
> + return ret;
> +
> + /* Make sure the initialization is visible before the flag */
> + smp_wmb();
> +
> + memcg->initialized = true;
> +
> + return 0;
> }
>
> /*
> --
> 2.1.0
>

--
Michal Hocko
SUSE Labs