From: David Carlier <devnexen@gmail.com>
To: akpm@linux-foundation.org
Cc: syzbot+fd95a72470f5a44e464c@syzkaller.appspotmail.com,
David Carlier <devnexen@gmail.com>,
David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>,
Lorenzo Stoakes <ljs@kernel.org>,
"Liam R. Howlett" <liam@infradead.org>,
Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@kernel.org>,
Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>,
Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>,
Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>, Kevin Tian <kevin.tian@intel.com>,
Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@ziepe.ca>,
Lu Baolu <baolu.lu@linux.intel.com>,
linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] mm: pgtable: protect lockless kernel page table walks with RCU
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2026 05:38:27 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260612043828.23558-1-devnexen@gmail.com> (raw)
ptdump walks the kernel page tables locklessly through
walk_kernel_page_table_range_lockless(). It only holds the init_mm
mmap lock and the memory hotplug lock, and neither excludes
vmalloc/ioremap teardown from freeing kernel PTE pages via
pmd_free_pte_page() -> pagetable_free_kernel(). syzbot hit a
use-after-free in ptdump_pte_entry() reading a PTE page that was freed
underneath the walk.
Deferring the kernel page table free only batches the TLB flush; it does
not wait for lockless walkers. Mirror the user page table walk, where
pte_offset_map() already takes the RCU read lock: hold rcu_read_lock()
across the lockless kernel walk and wait for a grace period in the kernel
page table free worker before releasing the pages. A walker then either
observes the cleared PMD and skips the page, or keeps it alive until it
drops the RCU read lock.
Fixes: 5ba2f0a15564 ("mm: introduce deferred freeing for kernel page tables")
Reported-by: syzbot+fd95a72470f5a44e464c@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/6a287988.39669fcc.33b062.00a0.GAE@google.com/T/
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-8
Signed-off-by: David Carlier <devnexen@gmail.com>
---
mm/pagewalk.c | 15 ++++++++++++++-
mm/pgtable-generic.c | 8 ++++++++
2 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/mm/pagewalk.c b/mm/pagewalk.c
index 3ae2586ff45b..6d9f14f86784 100644
--- a/mm/pagewalk.c
+++ b/mm/pagewalk.c
@@ -655,13 +655,26 @@ int walk_kernel_page_table_range_lockless(unsigned long start, unsigned long end
.private = private,
.no_vma = true
};
+ int err;
if (start >= end)
return -EINVAL;
if (!check_ops_safe(ops))
return -EINVAL;
- return walk_pgd_range(start, end, &walk);
+ /*
+ * Kernel intermediate page tables can be freed concurrently by
+ * vmalloc/ioremap teardown (e.g. pmd_free_pte_page()), which routes
+ * the freed pages through pagetable_free_kernel(). That path defers
+ * the free past an RCU grace period, so hold the RCU read lock across
+ * the lockless walk to prevent a page table from being freed while we
+ * are still dereferencing it.
+ */
+ rcu_read_lock();
+ err = walk_pgd_range(start, end, &walk);
+ rcu_read_unlock();
+
+ return err;
}
/**
diff --git a/mm/pgtable-generic.c b/mm/pgtable-generic.c
index b91b1a98029c..59e1315185b4 100644
--- a/mm/pgtable-generic.c
+++ b/mm/pgtable-generic.c
@@ -434,6 +434,14 @@ static void kernel_pgtable_work_func(struct work_struct *work)
spin_unlock(&kernel_pgtable_work.lock);
iommu_sva_invalidate_kva_range(PAGE_OFFSET, TLB_FLUSH_ALL);
+
+ /*
+ * Lockless kernel page table walkers (ptdump, and any other user of
+ * walk_kernel_page_table_range_lockless()) dereference these pages
+ * under rcu_read_lock(). Wait for a grace period so no walker can
+ * still be reading a page we are about to free.
+ */
+ synchronize_rcu();
list_for_each_entry_safe(pt, next, &page_list, pt_list)
__pagetable_free(pt);
}
--
2.53.0
next reply other threads:[~2026-06-12 4:38 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-06-12 4:38 David Carlier [this message]
2026-06-12 4:52 ` [PATCH] mm: pgtable: protect lockless kernel page table walks with RCU Matthew Wilcox
2026-06-12 4:59 ` David CARLIER
2026-06-12 5:05 ` [PATCH v2] " David Carlier
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