[PATCH] mm/memcontrol: fix data-race on reading jiffies_64

[PATCH] mm/memcontrol: fix data-race on reading jiffies_64

[Jiayuan Chen]

KCSAN reported a data-race between tick_do_update_jiffies64() updating
jiffies_64 and mem_cgroup_flush_stats_ratelimited() reading it directly.

Unlike jiffies, jiffies_64 is not volatile, so raw reads are plain
accesses and can even be torn on 32-bit. Use get_jiffies_64() instead,
and fix the same pattern in mem_cgroup_flush_foreign().

Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
Fixes: 508bed884767 ("mm: memcg: change flush_next_time to flush_last_time")
Fixes: 97b27821b485 ("writeback, memcg: Implement foreign dirty flushing")
Reported-by: syzbot+ced4d9a8cadb5ef3adae@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Signed-off-by: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>
---
feel free to drop Fixes tag.
---
 mm/memcontrol.c | 6 +++---
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index 11b85f4b6828..5a3fe057debc 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -757,7 +757,7 @@ static void __mem_cgroup_flush_stats(struct mem_cgroup *memcg, bool force)
 		return;
 
 	if (mem_cgroup_is_root(memcg))
-		WRITE_ONCE(flush_last_time, jiffies_64);
+		WRITE_ONCE(flush_last_time, get_jiffies_64());
 
 	css_rstat_flush(&memcg->css);
 }
@@ -785,7 +785,7 @@ void mem_cgroup_flush_stats(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
 void mem_cgroup_flush_stats_ratelimited(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
 {
 	/* Only flush if the periodic flusher is one full cycle late */
-	if (time_after64(jiffies_64, READ_ONCE(flush_last_time) + 2*FLUSH_TIME))
+	if (time_after64(get_jiffies_64(), READ_ONCE(flush_last_time) + 2 * FLUSH_TIME))
 		mem_cgroup_flush_stats(memcg);
 }
 
@@ -3945,7 +3945,7 @@ void mem_cgroup_flush_foreign(struct bdi_writeback *wb)
 {
 	struct mem_cgroup *memcg = mem_cgroup_from_css(wb->memcg_css);
 	unsigned long intv = msecs_to_jiffies(dirty_expire_interval * 10);
-	u64 now = jiffies_64;
+	u64 now = get_jiffies_64();
 	int i;
 
 	for (i = 0; i < MEMCG_CGWB_FRN_CNT; i++) {
-- 
2.43.0

Re: [PATCH] mm/memcontrol: fix data-race on reading jiffies_64

[Muchun Song]

> On Aug 27, 2026, at 10:54, Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev> wrote:
> 
> KCSAN reported a data-race between tick_do_update_jiffies64() updating
> jiffies_64 and mem_cgroup_flush_stats_ratelimited() reading it directly.
> 
> Unlike jiffies, jiffies_64 is not volatile, so raw reads are plain
> accesses and can even be torn on 32-bit. Use get_jiffies_64() instead,
> and fix the same pattern in mem_cgroup_flush_foreign().
> 
> Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
> Fixes: 508bed884767 ("mm: memcg: change flush_next_time to flush_last_time")
> Fixes: 97b27821b485 ("writeback, memcg: Implement foreign dirty flushing")
> Reported-by: syzbot+ced4d9a8cadb5ef3adae@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
> Signed-off-by: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>

Acked-by: Muchun Song <muchun.song@linux.dev>

Thanks.

Re: [PATCH] mm/memcontrol: fix data-race on reading jiffies_64

[Michal Hocko]

On Thu 27-08-26 10:54:56, Jiayuan Chen wrote:
> KCSAN reported a data-race between tick_do_update_jiffies64() updating
> jiffies_64 and mem_cgroup_flush_stats_ratelimited() reading it directly.
> 
> Unlike jiffies, jiffies_64 is not volatile, so raw reads are plain
> accesses and can even be torn on 32-bit. Use get_jiffies_64() instead,
> and fix the same pattern in mem_cgroup_flush_foreign().

Yes, this looks more correct. I do not expect this to have any
practically visible effects, right?

> Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
> Fixes: 508bed884767 ("mm: memcg: change flush_next_time to flush_last_time")
> Fixes: 97b27821b485 ("writeback, memcg: Implement foreign dirty flushing")
> Reported-by: syzbot+ced4d9a8cadb5ef3adae@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
> Signed-off-by: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>

Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>

> ---
> feel free to drop Fixes tag.
> ---
>  mm/memcontrol.c | 6 +++---
>  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
> index 11b85f4b6828..5a3fe057debc 100644
> --- a/mm/memcontrol.c
> +++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
> @@ -757,7 +757,7 @@ static void __mem_cgroup_flush_stats(struct mem_cgroup *memcg, bool force)
>  		return;
>  
>  	if (mem_cgroup_is_root(memcg))
> -		WRITE_ONCE(flush_last_time, jiffies_64);
> +		WRITE_ONCE(flush_last_time, get_jiffies_64());
>  
>  	css_rstat_flush(&memcg->css);
>  }
> @@ -785,7 +785,7 @@ void mem_cgroup_flush_stats(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
>  void mem_cgroup_flush_stats_ratelimited(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
>  {
>  	/* Only flush if the periodic flusher is one full cycle late */
> -	if (time_after64(jiffies_64, READ_ONCE(flush_last_time) + 2*FLUSH_TIME))
> +	if (time_after64(get_jiffies_64(), READ_ONCE(flush_last_time) + 2 * FLUSH_TIME))
>  		mem_cgroup_flush_stats(memcg);
>  }
>  
> @@ -3945,7 +3945,7 @@ void mem_cgroup_flush_foreign(struct bdi_writeback *wb)
>  {
>  	struct mem_cgroup *memcg = mem_cgroup_from_css(wb->memcg_css);
>  	unsigned long intv = msecs_to_jiffies(dirty_expire_interval * 10);
> -	u64 now = jiffies_64;
> +	u64 now = get_jiffies_64();
>  	int i;
>  
>  	for (i = 0; i < MEMCG_CGWB_FRN_CNT; i++) {
> -- 
> 2.43.0
> 

-- 
Michal Hocko
SUSE Labs

Re: [PATCH] mm/memcontrol: fix data-race on reading jiffies_64

[Johannes Weiner]

On Thu, Aug 27, 2026 at 10:54:56AM +0800, Jiayuan Chen wrote:
> KCSAN reported a data-race between tick_do_update_jiffies64() updating
> jiffies_64 and mem_cgroup_flush_stats_ratelimited() reading it directly.
> 
> Unlike jiffies, jiffies_64 is not volatile, so raw reads are plain
> accesses and can even be torn on 32-bit. Use get_jiffies_64() instead,
> and fix the same pattern in mem_cgroup_flush_foreign().
> 
> Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
> Fixes: 508bed884767 ("mm: memcg: change flush_next_time to flush_last_time")
> Fixes: 97b27821b485 ("writeback, memcg: Implement foreign dirty flushing")
> Reported-by: syzbot+ced4d9a8cadb5ef3adae@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
> Signed-off-by: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>

Acked-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>

Minor nit:

> @@ -785,7 +785,7 @@ void mem_cgroup_flush_stats(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
>  void mem_cgroup_flush_stats_ratelimited(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
>  {
>  	/* Only flush if the periodic flusher is one full cycle late */
> -	if (time_after64(jiffies_64, READ_ONCE(flush_last_time) + 2*FLUSH_TIME))
> +	if (time_after64(get_jiffies_64(), READ_ONCE(flush_last_time) + 2 * FLUSH_TIME))
>  		mem_cgroup_flush_stats(memcg);

time_is_after_jiffies64()