From: Vernon Yang <vernon2gm@gmail.com>
To: tglx@kernel.org, mingo@redhat.com, bp@alien8.de,
dave.hansen@linux.intel.com, akpm@linux-foundation.org,
david@kernel.org
Cc: hpa@zytor.com, rmclure@linux.ibm.com,
andrew+kernel@donnellan.id.au, pasha.tatashin@soleen.com,
kas@kernel.org, tj@kernel.org, rppt@kernel.org,
rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com, yu-cheng.yu@intel.com,
orsonpeters@gmail.com, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
x86@kernel.org, linux-mm@kvack.org,
Vernon Yang <yanglincheng@kylinos.cn>,
stable@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] x86/mm: Fix pmd_modify() dropping the dirty bit
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2026 11:16:08 +0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260903031608.1194238-1-vernon2gm@gmail.com> (raw)
From: Vernon Yang <yanglincheng@kylinos.cn>
pmd_modify() masks the old value with (_HPAGE_CHG_MASK & ~_PAGE_DIRTY),
silently discarding the hardware dirty bit. The subsequent
pmd_mksaveddirty() call is supposed to transfer _PAGE_DIRTY into
_PAGE_SAVED_DIRTY when write-protecting, but the dirty bit was already
stripped from the value, so there is nothing left to transfer.
Contrast with pte_modify(), which keeps _PAGE_DIRTY_BITS in its mask,
and pud_modify(), which keeps _HPAGE_CHG_MASK untouched: pmd_modify()
is the odd one out. Any pmd_modify() on a writable, dirty PMD loses
the dirty state.
One visible consequence is data loss with MADV_FREE on PMD-mapped THP:
memset(buf, 0x5A, size); // PMD-mapped THP, PMD dirty
madvise(buf, size, MADV_FREE); // PMD cleaned but left writable,
// folio marked lazyfree
memset(buf, 0x5A, size); // hardware sets _PAGE_DIRTY again
mprotect(buf, size, PROT_READ); // pmd_modify() drops the dirty bit
mprotect(buf, size, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE);
// ... memory pressure ...
Reclaim (e.g. under memcg pressure) then finds the lazyfree folio with
no dirty bit set anywhere and frees it in
__discard_anon_folio_pmd_locked(), even though the data was rewritten
after MADV_FREE; subsequent reads fault in fresh zero pages. NUMA
hinting alone can trigger the same loss, as do_huge_pmd_numa_page()
restores the PMD through pmd_modify() as well.
PMD-mapped file THPs are affected too: mprotect()/NUMA hinting dropping
the dirty bit means rewritten data is never written back.
Fix it by keeping _PAGE_DIRTY in the preserved mask, exactly like
pte_modify() and pud_modify() do. The existing
pmd_mksaveddirty()/pmd_clear_saveddirty() pair then performs the
hardware-dirty <-> saved-dirty transition based on the write bit,
preserving the shadow-stack encoding rules.
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/r/CAJxLxMUGu1-L+O_nAONOwOXnS=cNbNApCWqdthRjd76LThtSPg@mail.gmail.com/
Fixes: bb3aadf7d446 ("x86/mm: Start actually marking _PAGE_SAVED_DIRTY")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Vernon Yang <yanglincheng@kylinos.cn>
---
arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h | 2 +-
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h
index d5f4917c1edc..d551120a7c88 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h
@@ -806,7 +806,7 @@ static inline pmd_t pmd_modify(pmd_t pmd, pgprot_t newprot)
pmdval_t val = pmd_val(pmd), oldval = val;
pmd_t pmd_result;
- val &= (_HPAGE_CHG_MASK & ~_PAGE_DIRTY);
+ val &= _HPAGE_CHG_MASK;
val |= check_pgprot(newprot) & ~_HPAGE_CHG_MASK;
val = flip_protnone_guard(oldval, val, PHYSICAL_PMD_PAGE_MASK);
--
2.53.0
next reply other threads:[~2026-09-03 3:17 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 11+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-09-03 3:16 Vernon Yang [this message]
2026-09-03 4:10 ` [PATCH] x86/mm: Fix pmd_modify() dropping the dirty bit Andrew Morton
2026-09-03 5:24 ` Vernon Yang
2026-09-03 7:34 ` Orson Peters
2026-09-03 15:40 ` Dave Hansen
2026-09-03 11:54 ` Kiryl Shutsemau
2026-09-03 14:18 ` Dave Hansen
2026-09-03 17:21 ` Andrew Morton
2026-09-03 17:58 ` Edgecombe, Rick P
2026-09-03 18:01 ` Dave Hansen
2026-09-03 18:33 ` Edgecombe, Rick P
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=20260903031608.1194238-1-vernon2gm@gmail.com \
--to=vernon2gm@gmail.com \
--cc=akpm@linux-foundation.org \
--cc=andrew+kernel@donnellan.id.au \
--cc=bp@alien8.de \
--cc=dave.hansen@linux.intel.com \
--cc=david@kernel.org \
--cc=hpa@zytor.com \
--cc=kas@kernel.org \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-mm@kvack.org \
--cc=mingo@redhat.com \
--cc=orsonpeters@gmail.com \
--cc=pasha.tatashin@soleen.com \
--cc=rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com \
--cc=rmclure@linux.ibm.com \
--cc=rppt@kernel.org \
--cc=stable@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=tglx@kernel.org \
--cc=tj@kernel.org \
--cc=x86@kernel.org \
--cc=yanglincheng@kylinos.cn \
--cc=yu-cheng.yu@intel.com \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox