Re: [PATCH 1/1] mm: Fix folio_pte_batch() overcount with zero PTEs

Petr Vaněk
2025-04-30T11:52:16Z

On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 08:56:03PM +0200, David Hildenbrand wrote:
> On 29.04.25 20:33, Petr Vaněk wrote:
> > On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 05:45:53PM +0200, David Hildenbrand wrote:
> >> On 29.04.25 16:52, David Hildenbrand wrote:
> >>> On 29.04.25 16:45, Petr Vaněk wrote:
> >>>> On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 04:29:30PM +0200, David Hildenbrand wrote:
> >>>>> On 29.04.25 16:22, Petr Vaněk wrote:
> >>>>>> folio_pte_batch() could overcount the number of contiguous PTEs when
> >>>>>> pte_advance_pfn() returns a zero-valued PTE and the following PTE in
> >>>>>> memory also happens to be zero. The loop doesn't break in such a case
> >>>>>> because pte_same() returns true, and the batch size is advanced by one
> >>>>>> more than it should be.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> To fix this, bail out early if a non-present PTE is encountered,
> >>>>>> preventing the invalid comparison.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> This issue started to appear after commit 10ebac4f95e7 ("mm/memory:
> >>>>>> optimize unmap/zap with PTE-mapped THP") and was discovered via git
> >>>>>> bisect.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Fixes: 10ebac4f95e7 ("mm/memory: optimize unmap/zap with PTE-mapped THP")
> >>>>>> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> >>>>>> Signed-off-by: Petr Vaněk <arkamar@atlas.cz>
> >>>>>> ---
> >>>>>> mm/internal.h | 2 ++
> >>>>>> 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> diff --git a/mm/internal.h b/mm/internal.h
> >>>>>> index e9695baa5922..c181fe2bac9d 100644
> >>>>>> --- a/mm/internal.h
> >>>>>> +++ b/mm/internal.h
> >>>>>> @@ -279,6 +279,8 @@ static inline int folio_pte_batch(struct folio *folio, unsigned long addr,
> >>>>>> dirty = !!pte_dirty(pte);
> >>>>>> pte = __pte_batch_clear_ignored(pte, flags);
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> + if (!pte_present(pte))
> >>>>>> + break;
> >>>>>> if (!pte_same(pte, expected_pte))
> >>>>>> break;
> >>>>>
> >>>>> How could pte_same() suddenly match on a present and non-present PTE.
> >>>>
> >>>> In the problematic case pte.pte == 0 and expected_pte.pte == 0 as well.
> >>>> pte_same() returns a.pte == b.pte -> 0 == 0. Both are non-present PTEs.
> >>>
> >>> Observe that folio_pte_batch() was called *with a present pte*.
> >>>
> >>> do_zap_pte_range()
> >>> if (pte_present(ptent))
> >>> zap_present_ptes()
> >>> folio_pte_batch()
> >>>
> >>> How can we end up with an expected_pte that is !present, if it is based
> >>> on the provided pte that *is present* and we only used pte_advance_pfn()
> >>> to advance the pfn?
> >>
> >> I've been staring at the code for too long and don't see the issue.
> >>
> >> We even have
> >>
> >> VM_WARN_ON_FOLIO(!pte_present(pte), folio);
> >>
> >> So the initial pteval we got is present.
> >>
> >> I don't see how
> >>
> >> nr = pte_batch_hint(start_ptep, pte);
> >> expected_pte = __pte_batch_clear_ignored(pte_advance_pfn(pte, nr), flags);
> >>
> >> would suddenly result in !pte_present(expected_pte).
> >
> > The issue is not happening in __pte_batch_clear_ignored but later in
> > following line:
> >
> > expected_pte = pte_advance_pfn(expected_pte, nr);
> >
> > The issue seems to be in __pte function which converts PTE value to
> > pte_t in pte_advance_pfn, because warnings disappears when I change the
> > line to
> >
> > expected_pte = (pte_t){ .pte = pte_val(expected_pte) + (nr << PFN_PTE_SHIFT) };
> >
> > The kernel probably uses __pte function from
> > arch/x86/include/asm/paravirt.h because it is configured with
> > CONFIG_PARAVIRT=y:
> >
> > static inline pte_t __pte(pteval_t val)
> > {
> > return (pte_t) { PVOP_ALT_CALLEE1(pteval_t, mmu.make_pte, val,
> > "mov %%rdi, %%rax", ALT_NOT_XEN) };
> > }
> >
> > I guess it might cause this weird magic, but I need more time to
> > understand what it does :)

I understand it slightly more. __pte() uses xen_make_pte(), which calls
pte_pfn_to_mfn(), however, mfn for this pfn contains INVALID_P2M_ENTRY
value, therefore the pte_pfn_to_mfn() returns 0, see [1].

I guess that the mfn was invalidated by xen-balloon driver?

[1] https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/x86/xen/mmu_pv.c?h=v6.15-rc4#n408

> What XEN does with basic primitives that convert between pteval and
> pte_t is beyond horrible.
>
> How come set_ptes() that uses pte_next_pfn()->pte_advance_pfn() does not
> run into this?

I don't know, but I guess it is somehow related to pfn->mfn translation.

> Is it only a problem if we exceed a certain pfn?

No, it is a problem if the corresponding mft to given pfn is invalid.

I am not sure if my original patch is a good fix. Maybe it would be
better to have some sort of native_pte_advance_pfn() which will use
native_make_pte() rather than __pte(). Or do you think the issue is in
Xen part?

Cheers,
Petr