From: "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>
To: Ext4 Developers List <linux-ext4@vger.kernel.org>
Cc: "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>, Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Subject: [PATCH -v2] ext4: handle wraparound when searching for blocks for indirect mapped blocks
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:58:34 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260326045834.1175822-1-tytso@mit.edu> (raw)
Commit 4865c768b563 ("ext4: always allocate blocks only from groups
inode can use") restricts what blocks will be allocated for indirect
block based files to block numbers that fit within 32-bit block
numbers.
However, when using a review bot running on the latest Gemini LLM to
check this commit when backporting into an LTS based kernel, it raised
this concern:
If ac->ac_g_ex.fe_group is >= ngroups (for instance, if the goal
group was populated via stream allocation from s_mb_last_groups),
then start will be >= ngroups.
Does this allow allocating blocks beyond the 32-bit limit for
indirect block mapped files? The commit message mentions that
ext4_mb_scan_groups_linear() takes care to not select unsupported
groups. However, its loop uses group = *start, and the very first
iteration will call ext4_mb_scan_group() with this unsupported
group because next_linear_group() is only called at the end of the
iteration.
After reviewing the code paths involved and considering the LLM
review, I determined that this can happen when there is a file system
where some files/directories are extent-mapped and others are
indirect-block mapped. To address this, add a safety clamp in
ext4_mb_scan_groups().
Fixes: 4865c768b563 ("ext4: always allocate blocks only from groups inode can use")
Signed-off-by: Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu>
Cc: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
---
v2:
* Remove extra checks that were not needed once we add the clamp
in ext4_mb_scan_groups().
fs/ext4/mballoc.c | 2 ++
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
diff --git a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
index 20e9fdaf4301..b10db5d7545b 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
@@ -1199,6 +1199,8 @@ static int ext4_mb_scan_groups(struct ext4_allocation_context *ac)
/* searching for the right group start from the goal value specified */
start = ac->ac_g_ex.fe_group;
+ if (start >= ngroups)
+ start = 0;
ac->ac_prefetch_grp = start;
ac->ac_prefetch_nr = 0;
--
2.51.0
next reply other threads:[~2026-03-26 4:58 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-03-26 4:58 Theodore Ts'o [this message]
2026-03-26 9:44 ` [PATCH -v2] ext4: handle wraparound when searching for blocks for indirect mapped blocks Jan Kara
2026-03-26 10:01 ` Baokun Li
2026-03-28 5:31 ` Theodore Ts'o
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