* [PATCH] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block
@ 2026-10-22 6:53 Baokun Li
2026-10-22 7:16 ` sashiko-bot
0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Baokun Li @ 2026-10-22 6:53 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: linux-ext4
Cc: tytso, adilger.kernel, jack, yi.zhang, ojaswin, ritesh.list,
linux-kernel, stable
ext4_zero_range() drops the page cache of the range before allocating,
to avoid exposing stale cached data. However, the dropped page can be
read back by the eof zeroing:
fallocate(fd, FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE, 0, 4096)
ext4_zero_range()
ext4_truncate_page_cache_block_range(0, 4096)
truncate_pagecache_range(0, 4095)
truncate_inode_pages_range()
delete_from_page_cache_batch() # drops the page
ext4_alloc_file_blocks(..., 4096)
ext4_block_zero_eof(512, LLONG_MAX) # not block aligned
ext4_load_tail_bh()
filemap_lock_folio(0) # reads dropped page back
# zeroes [512,1024), marks the buffer dirty
ext4_map_blocks(...) # zeroes the blocks on disk
ext4_update_inode_size(inode, 4096)
The bytes below the old EOF keep the stale disk content. The page is
left dirty, so read() returns old data while O_DIRECT reads zeroes, and
a write into the same block is not converted and is lost until the page
is dropped:
page [0, 4096), 1k block size, file ends at 512
0 512 1024 4096
|--- data ----|-- tail ---|---- zero range ----------|
| old data | | |
For example:
$ xfs_io -f -c "pwrite -S 1 0 512" f
$ sync
$ fallocate -z -o 0 -l 4096 f
$ xfs_io -c "pread -v 0 16" f # old data, not zeroes
Since the whole eof block is converted to unwritten, zeroing it here is
redundant. Therefore, skip the zeroing when this allocation covers the
eof block entirely.
Keep the zeroing otherwise: the block is still written at that point,
so touching the page cache is safe.
Fixes: c7fc0366c656 ("ext4: partial zero eof block on unaligned inode size extension")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Baokun Li <libaokun@linux.alibaba.com>
---
fs/ext4/extents.c | 11 +++++++++--
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/fs/ext4/extents.c b/fs/ext4/extents.c
index ad0d80e33f60..2ce33fd3b912 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/extents.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/extents.c
@@ -4639,8 +4639,15 @@ static int ext4_alloc_file_blocks(struct file *file, loff_t offset, loff_t len,
credits = ext4_chunk_trans_blocks(inode, len_lblk);
depth = ext_depth(inode);
- /* Zero to the end of the block containing i_size */
- if (new_size > old_size) {
+ /*
+ * Zero to the end of the block containing i_size.
+ * Loading the eof block back before it is converted to unwritten
+ * may leave the page cache inconsistent with the disk, and zeroing
+ * it is redundant, so skip it.
+ */
+ if (new_size > old_size &&
+ (!(flags & EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN) ||
+ !in_range(old_size >> blkbits, map.m_lblk, map.m_len))) {
ret = ext4_block_zero_eof(inode, old_size, LLONG_MAX);
if (ret)
return ret;
--
2.43.7
^ permalink raw reply related [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread* Re: [PATCH] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block
2026-10-22 6:53 [PATCH] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block Baokun Li
@ 2026-10-22 7:16 ` sashiko-bot
2026-10-22 9:56 ` Baokun Li
2026-10-22 12:26 ` [PATCH v2] " Baokun Li
0 siblings, 2 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: sashiko-bot @ 2026-10-22 7:16 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Baokun Li, linux-ext4; +Cc: tytso
Thank you for your contribution! Sashiko AI review found 1 potential issue(s) to consider:
- [Critical] ext4: stale data in ext4_alloc_file_blocks() on FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES
--
commit 5e26fed6c5f3f56bd5013064a243a3a558e3a73d
Author: Baokun Li <libaokun@linux.alibaba.com>
ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block
This commit skips calling ext4_block_zero_eof() in ext4_alloc_file_blocks()
when EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN is set and the allocation range covers
the EOF block, preventing the dropped EOF page from being read back into the
page cache with stale data during FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE.
> diff --git a/fs/ext4/extents.c b/fs/ext4/extents.c
> index 7193429a05e1f..8f7ded6e08299 100644
> --- a/fs/ext4/extents.c
> +++ b/fs/ext4/extents.c
> @@ -4639,8 +4639,15 @@ static int ext4_alloc_file_blocks(struct file *file, loff_t offset, loff_t len,
> credits = ext4_chunk_trans_blocks(inode, len_lblk);
> depth = ext_depth(inode);
>
> - /* Zero to the end of the block containing i_size */
> - if (new_size > old_size) {
> + /*
> + * Zero to the end of the block containing i_size.
> + * Loading the eof block back before it is converted to unwritten
> + * may leave the page cache inconsistent with the disk, and zeroing
> + * it is redundant, so skip it.
> + */
> + if (new_size > old_size &&
> + (!(flags & EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN) ||
> + !in_range(old_size >> blkbits, map.m_lblk, map.m_len))) {
> ret = ext4_block_zero_eof(inode, old_size, LLONG_MAX);
> if (ret)
> return ret;
[Severity: Critical]
Does this condition also need to check !alloc_zero to cover the
FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES path?
In ext4_zero_range(), after ext4_truncate_page_cache_block_range() drops the
page cache, FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES calls ext4_alloc_file_blocks() with
EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CREATE_ZERO rather than EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN:
if (align_end > align_start) {
if (mode & FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES)
flags = EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CREATE_ZERO | EXT4_EX_NOCACHE;
else
flags |= (EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN |
EXT4_EX_NOCACHE);
ret = ext4_alloc_file_blocks(file, align_start,
align_end - align_start, new_size,
flags);
Earlier in ext4_alloc_file_blocks(), EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_ZERO is cleared from
flags and converted into alloc_zero = true:
if (flags & EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_ZERO) {
flags &= ~EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_ZERO;
flags |= EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_UNWRIT_EXT;
alloc_zero = true;
}
When FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES extends i_size across an unaligned written EOF
block covered by [align_start, align_end),
!(flags & EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN) is true. As a result,
ext4_block_zero_eof() is still called and reads the dropped EOF block back
from disk into the page cache with stale data below old_size, marks the
buffer or folio dirty, and then the loop zeroes the block on disk via
ext4_issue_zeroout() and leaves the extent mapped as written.
Wouldn't this leave the dirty page cache folio with stale data that is
returned on buffered reads and written back over the zeroed disk block on
writeback or fsync?
--
Sashiko AI review · https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20261022065342.3569693-1-libaokun@linux.alibaba.com?part=1
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread* Re: [PATCH] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block
2026-10-22 7:16 ` sashiko-bot
@ 2026-10-22 9:56 ` Baokun Li
2026-10-22 12:26 ` [PATCH v2] " Baokun Li
1 sibling, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Baokun Li @ 2026-10-22 9:56 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: linux-ext4; +Cc: tytso, sashiko-reviews
On 2026/10/22 15:16, sashiko-bot@kernel.org wrote:
> Thank you for your contribution! Sashiko AI review found 1 potential issue(s) to consider:
> - [Critical] ext4: stale data in ext4_alloc_file_blocks() on FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES
> --
>
> commit 5e26fed6c5f3f56bd5013064a243a3a558e3a73d
> Author: Baokun Li <libaokun@linux.alibaba.com>
>
> ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block
>
> This commit skips calling ext4_block_zero_eof() in ext4_alloc_file_blocks()
> when EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN is set and the allocation range covers
> the EOF block, preventing the dropped EOF page from being read back into the
> page cache with stale data during FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE.
>
>> diff --git a/fs/ext4/extents.c b/fs/ext4/extents.c
>> index 7193429a05e1f..8f7ded6e08299 100644
>> --- a/fs/ext4/extents.c
>> +++ b/fs/ext4/extents.c
>> @@ -4639,8 +4639,15 @@ static int ext4_alloc_file_blocks(struct file *file, loff_t offset, loff_t len,
>> credits = ext4_chunk_trans_blocks(inode, len_lblk);
>> depth = ext_depth(inode);
>>
>> - /* Zero to the end of the block containing i_size */
>> - if (new_size > old_size) {
>> + /*
>> + * Zero to the end of the block containing i_size.
>> + * Loading the eof block back before it is converted to unwritten
>> + * may leave the page cache inconsistent with the disk, and zeroing
>> + * it is redundant, so skip it.
>> + */
>> + if (new_size > old_size &&
>> + (!(flags & EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN) ||
>> + !in_range(old_size >> blkbits, map.m_lblk, map.m_len))) {
>> ret = ext4_block_zero_eof(inode, old_size, LLONG_MAX);
>> if (ret)
>> return ret;
> [Severity: Critical]
> Does this condition also need to check !alloc_zero to cover the
> FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES path?
>
> In ext4_zero_range(), after ext4_truncate_page_cache_block_range() drops the
> page cache, FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES calls ext4_alloc_file_blocks() with
> EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CREATE_ZERO rather than EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN:
>
> if (align_end > align_start) {
> if (mode & FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES)
> flags = EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CREATE_ZERO | EXT4_EX_NOCACHE;
> else
> flags |= (EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN |
> EXT4_EX_NOCACHE);
> ret = ext4_alloc_file_blocks(file, align_start,
> align_end - align_start, new_size,
> flags);
>
> Earlier in ext4_alloc_file_blocks(), EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_ZERO is cleared from
> flags and converted into alloc_zero = true:
>
> if (flags & EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_ZERO) {
> flags &= ~EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_ZERO;
> flags |= EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_UNWRIT_EXT;
> alloc_zero = true;
> }
>
> When FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES extends i_size across an unaligned written EOF
> block covered by [align_start, align_end),
> !(flags & EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN) is true. As a result,
> ext4_block_zero_eof() is still called and reads the dropped EOF block back
> from disk into the page cache with stale data below old_size, marks the
> buffer or folio dirty, and then the loop zeroes the block on disk via
> ext4_issue_zeroout() and leaves the extent mapped as written.
>
> Wouldn't this leave the dirty page cache folio with stale data that is
> returned on buffered reads and written back over the zeroed disk block on
> writeback or fsync?
>
This is indeed another similar issue that can be addressed
in the current patch. I will send version 2 soon.
Thanks,
Baokun
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread* [PATCH v2] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block
2026-10-22 7:16 ` sashiko-bot
2026-10-22 9:56 ` Baokun Li
@ 2026-10-22 12:26 ` Baokun Li
2026-10-22 12:48 ` sashiko-bot
2026-10-23 9:23 ` Zhang Yi
1 sibling, 2 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Baokun Li @ 2026-10-22 12:26 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: linux-ext4
Cc: tytso, adilger.kernel, jack, yi.zhang, ojaswin, ritesh.list,
linux-kernel, stable
ext4_zero_range() drops the page cache of the range before allocating,
to avoid exposing stale cached data. However, the dropped page can be
read back by the eof zeroing:
fallocate(fd, FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE, 0, 4096)
ext4_zero_range()
ext4_truncate_page_cache_block_range(0, 4096)
truncate_pagecache_range(0, 4095)
truncate_inode_pages_range()
delete_from_page_cache_batch() # drops the page
ext4_alloc_file_blocks(..., 4096)
ext4_block_zero_eof(512, LLONG_MAX) # not block aligned
ext4_load_tail_bh()
__filemap_get_folio(FGP_WRITEBEGIN | FGP_ACCESSED)
# FGP_CREAT reads the dropped page back
# zeroes [512,1024), marks the buffer dirty
ext4_map_blocks(...) # converts the extent to unwritten
ext4_update_inode_size(4096)
The bytes below the old EOF keep the stale disk content. The page is
left dirty, so read() returns old data while O_DIRECT reads zeroes, and
a write into the same block is not converted and is lost until the page
is dropped:
page [0, 4096), 1k block size, file ends at 512
0 512 1024 4096
|--- data ----|-- tail ---|---- zero range ----------|
| old data | | |
For example:
$ xfs_io -f -c "pwrite -S 1 0 512" f
$ sync
$ fallocate -z -o 0 -l 4096 f
$ xfs_io -c "pread -v 0 16" f # old data, not zeroes
FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES hits the same path. ext4_issue_zeroout() zeroes
the block on disk without updating the page cache, and the block stays
written. Therefore, writeback of the dirty page overwrites the zeroes
with old data.
Since the whole eof block is converted to unwritten or zeroed out,
zeroing it here is redundant. Therefore, skip the zeroing when this
allocation covers the eof block entirely.
Fixes: c4602a1d09ec ("ext4: move zero partial block range functions out of active handle")
Fixes: f4265b8d32c4 ("ext4: add FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES support")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Baokun Li <libaokun@linux.alibaba.com>
---
Changes since v1:
* Also skip the eof zeroing for FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES, which
reads the dropped page back in the same way (Reported by Sashiko).
* Corrected the Fixes tags: the ZERO_RANGE regression comes from
c4602a1d09ec, and f4265b8d32c4 introduced the WRITE_ZEROES one.
* Fixed the call chains in the commit message.
v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20261022065342.3569693-1-libaokun@linux.alibaba.com
This hunk does not apply to v6.17 - v7.0, where the eof zeroing is
done inside the allocation loop; those trees need a manual backport.
fs/ext4/extents.c | 11 +++++++++--
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/fs/ext4/extents.c b/fs/ext4/extents.c
index ad0d80e33f60..b05015b8b62c 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/extents.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/extents.c
@@ -4639,8 +4639,15 @@ static int ext4_alloc_file_blocks(struct file *file, loff_t offset, loff_t len,
credits = ext4_chunk_trans_blocks(inode, len_lblk);
depth = ext_depth(inode);
- /* Zero to the end of the block containing i_size */
- if (new_size > old_size) {
+ /*
+ * Zero to the end of the block containing i_size.
+ * Loading the eof block back before it is converted to unwritten
+ * or zeroed out may leave the page cache inconsistent with the
+ * disk, and zeroing it is redundant, so skip it.
+ */
+ if (new_size > old_size &&
+ !(in_range(old_size >> blkbits, map.m_lblk, map.m_len) &&
+ (flags & EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN || alloc_zero))) {
ret = ext4_block_zero_eof(inode, old_size, LLONG_MAX);
if (ret)
return ret;
--
2.43.7
^ permalink raw reply related [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread* Re: [PATCH v2] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block
2026-10-22 12:26 ` [PATCH v2] " Baokun Li
@ 2026-10-22 12:48 ` sashiko-bot
2026-10-23 9:23 ` Zhang Yi
1 sibling, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: sashiko-bot @ 2026-10-22 12:48 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Baokun Li, linux-ext4; +Cc: tytso
> ext4_zero_range() drops the page cache of the range before allocating,
> to avoid exposing stale cached data. However, the dropped page can be
> read back by the eof zeroing:
>
> fallocate(fd, FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE, 0, 4096)
> ext4_zero_range()
> ext4_truncate_page_cache_block_range(0, 4096)
> truncate_pagecache_range(0, 4095)
> truncate_inode_pages_range()
> delete_from_page_cache_batch() # drops the page
> ext4_alloc_file_blocks(..., 4096)
> ext4_block_zero_eof(512, LLONG_MAX) # not block aligned
> ext4_load_tail_bh()
> __filemap_get_folio(FGP_WRITEBEGIN | FGP_ACCESSED)
> # FGP_CREAT reads the dropped page back
> [ ... ]
>
> Fixes: c4602a1d09ec ("ext4: move zero partial block range functions out of active handle")
> Fixes: f4265b8d32c4 ("ext4: add FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES support")
> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> Signed-off-by: Baokun Li <libaokun@linux.alibaba.com>
Sashiko has reviewed this patch and found no issues.
--
Sashiko AI review · https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20261022122625.1744363-1-libaokun@linux.alibaba.com?part=1
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread* Re: [PATCH v2] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block
2026-10-22 12:26 ` [PATCH v2] " Baokun Li
2026-10-22 12:48 ` sashiko-bot
@ 2026-10-23 9:23 ` Zhang Yi
2026-10-23 14:44 ` Baokun Li
1 sibling, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Zhang Yi @ 2026-10-23 9:23 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Baokun Li
Cc: linux-ext4, tytso, adilger.kernel, jack, ojaswin, ritesh.list,
linux-kernel, stable
On 10/22/2026 8:26 PM, Baokun Li wrote:
> ext4_zero_range() drops the page cache of the range before allocating,
> to avoid exposing stale cached data. However, the dropped page can be
> read back by the eof zeroing:
>
> fallocate(fd, FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE, 0, 4096)
> ext4_zero_range()
> ext4_truncate_page_cache_block_range(0, 4096)
> truncate_pagecache_range(0, 4095)
> truncate_inode_pages_range()
> delete_from_page_cache_batch() # drops the page
> ext4_alloc_file_blocks(..., 4096)
> ext4_block_zero_eof(512, LLONG_MAX) # not block aligned
> ext4_load_tail_bh()
> __filemap_get_folio(FGP_WRITEBEGIN | FGP_ACCESSED)
> # FGP_CREAT reads the dropped page back
> # zeroes [512,1024), marks the buffer dirty
> ext4_map_blocks(...) # converts the extent to unwritten
> ext4_update_inode_size(4096)
>
> The bytes below the old EOF keep the stale disk content. The page is
> left dirty, so read() returns old data while O_DIRECT reads zeroes, and
> a write into the same block is not converted and is lost until the page
> is dropped:
>
> page [0, 4096), 1k block size, file ends at 512
> 0 512 1024 4096
> |--- data ----|-- tail ---|---- zero range ----------|
> | old data | | |
>
> For example:
>
> $ xfs_io -f -c "pwrite -S 1 0 512" f
> $ sync
> $ fallocate -z -o 0 -l 4096 f
> $ xfs_io -c "pread -v 0 16" f # old data, not zeroes
>
> FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES hits the same path. ext4_issue_zeroout() zeroes
> the block on disk without updating the page cache, and the block stays
> written. Therefore, writeback of the dirty page overwrites the zeroes
> with old data.
>
> Since the whole eof block is converted to unwritten or zeroed out,
> zeroing it here is redundant. Therefore, skip the zeroing when this
> allocation covers the eof block entirely.
>
> Fixes: c4602a1d09ec ("ext4: move zero partial block range functions out of active handle")
> Fixes: f4265b8d32c4 ("ext4: add FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES support")
> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> Signed-off-by: Baokun Li <libaokun@linux.alibaba.com>
Hi Baokun,
Thank you for the fix, this is a nice catch. This makes sense to me.
Reviewed-by: Zhang Yi <yi.zhang@huawei.com>
One small point, the condition you added looks a bit confusing. I'm
wondering whether, in the future, it would be more straightforward to
extract ext4_block_zero_eof() from ext4_alloc_file_blocks() into
ext4_zero_range() and ext4_do_fallocate()?
Thanks,
Yi.
> ---
> Changes since v1:
> * Also skip the eof zeroing for FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES, which
> reads the dropped page back in the same way (Reported by Sashiko).
> * Corrected the Fixes tags: the ZERO_RANGE regression comes from
> c4602a1d09ec, and f4265b8d32c4 introduced the WRITE_ZEROES one.
> * Fixed the call chains in the commit message.
>
> v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20261022065342.3569693-1-libaokun@linux.alibaba.com
>
> This hunk does not apply to v6.17 - v7.0, where the eof zeroing is
> done inside the allocation loop; those trees need a manual backport.
>
> fs/ext4/extents.c | 11 +++++++++--
> 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/fs/ext4/extents.c b/fs/ext4/extents.c
> index ad0d80e33f60..b05015b8b62c 100644
> --- a/fs/ext4/extents.c
> +++ b/fs/ext4/extents.c
> @@ -4639,8 +4639,15 @@ static int ext4_alloc_file_blocks(struct file *file, loff_t offset, loff_t len,
> credits = ext4_chunk_trans_blocks(inode, len_lblk);
> depth = ext_depth(inode);
>
> - /* Zero to the end of the block containing i_size */
> - if (new_size > old_size) {
> + /*
> + * Zero to the end of the block containing i_size.
> + * Loading the eof block back before it is converted to unwritten
> + * or zeroed out may leave the page cache inconsistent with the
> + * disk, and zeroing it is redundant, so skip it.
> + */
> + if (new_size > old_size &&
> + !(in_range(old_size >> blkbits, map.m_lblk, map.m_len) &&
> + (flags & EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN || alloc_zero))) {
> ret = ext4_block_zero_eof(inode, old_size, LLONG_MAX);
> if (ret)
> return ret;
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread* Re: [PATCH v2] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block
2026-10-23 9:23 ` Zhang Yi
@ 2026-10-23 14:44 ` Baokun Li
0 siblings, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Baokun Li @ 2026-10-23 14:44 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Zhang Yi
Cc: linux-ext4, tytso, adilger.kernel, jack, ojaswin, ritesh.list,
linux-kernel, stable
On 2026/10/23 17:23, Zhang Yi wrote:
> On 10/22/2026 8:26 PM, Baokun Li wrote:
>> ext4_zero_range() drops the page cache of the range before allocating,
>> to avoid exposing stale cached data. However, the dropped page can be
>> read back by the eof zeroing:
>>
>> fallocate(fd, FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE, 0, 4096)
>> ext4_zero_range()
>> ext4_truncate_page_cache_block_range(0, 4096)
>> truncate_pagecache_range(0, 4095)
>> truncate_inode_pages_range()
>> delete_from_page_cache_batch() # drops the page
>> ext4_alloc_file_blocks(..., 4096)
>> ext4_block_zero_eof(512, LLONG_MAX) # not block aligned
>> ext4_load_tail_bh()
>> __filemap_get_folio(FGP_WRITEBEGIN | FGP_ACCESSED)
>> # FGP_CREAT reads the dropped page back
>> # zeroes [512,1024), marks the buffer dirty
>> ext4_map_blocks(...) # converts the extent to unwritten
>> ext4_update_inode_size(4096)
>>
>> The bytes below the old EOF keep the stale disk content. The page is
>> left dirty, so read() returns old data while O_DIRECT reads zeroes, and
>> a write into the same block is not converted and is lost until the page
>> is dropped:
>>
>> page [0, 4096), 1k block size, file ends at 512
>> 0 512 1024 4096
>> |--- data ----|-- tail ---|---- zero range ----------|
>> | old data | | |
>>
>> For example:
>>
>> $ xfs_io -f -c "pwrite -S 1 0 512" f
>> $ sync
>> $ fallocate -z -o 0 -l 4096 f
>> $ xfs_io -c "pread -v 0 16" f # old data, not zeroes
>>
>> FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES hits the same path. ext4_issue_zeroout() zeroes
>> the block on disk without updating the page cache, and the block stays
>> written. Therefore, writeback of the dirty page overwrites the zeroes
>> with old data.
>>
>> Since the whole eof block is converted to unwritten or zeroed out,
>> zeroing it here is redundant. Therefore, skip the zeroing when this
>> allocation covers the eof block entirely.
>>
>> Fixes: c4602a1d09ec ("ext4: move zero partial block range functions out of active handle")
>> Fixes: f4265b8d32c4 ("ext4: add FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES support")
>> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
>> Signed-off-by: Baokun Li <libaokun@linux.alibaba.com>
>
> Hi Baokun,
Hi Yi,
>
> Thank you for the fix, this is a nice catch. This makes sense to me.
> Reviewed-by: Zhang Yi <yi.zhang@huawei.com>
>
Thank you for your review!
> One small point, the condition you added looks a bit confusing. I'm
> wondering whether, in the future, it would be more straightforward to
> extract ext4_block_zero_eof() from ext4_alloc_file_blocks() into
> ext4_zero_range() and ext4_do_fallocate()?
That sounds great. By writing zeros before truncating the page,
we won’t have to worry about the page cache being read back,
which means we won’t need to check the position of the EOF block
anymore.
I’ll send this out as a separate refactoring patch.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Cheers,
Baokun
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2026-10-23 14:44 UTC | newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2026-10-22 6:53 [PATCH] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block Baokun Li
2026-10-22 7:16 ` sashiko-bot
2026-10-22 9:56 ` Baokun Li
2026-10-22 12:26 ` [PATCH v2] " Baokun Li
2026-10-22 12:48 ` sashiko-bot
2026-10-23 9:23 ` Zhang Yi
2026-10-23 14:44 ` Baokun Li
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