Re: [PATCH] xarray: fix index jumping backwards in xas_find()

[Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>]

On Thu,  3 Sep 2026 13:48:55 +0000 (UTC) "syzbot" <syzbot@kernel.org> wrote:

> From: Krystian Kaniewski <krystianmkaniewski@gmail.com>
> 
> A bug in the XArray iterator xas_find() causes the iterator's index
> (xas->xa_index) to jump backwards when iterating over a multi-index entry
> (like a THP) that resides in a non-leaf node and is concurrently split.
> 
> When iterating over a multi-index entry in a non-leaf node, xas_load() sets
> xas->xa_offset to the base offset of the entry, but leaves xas->xa_index at
> the requested index. When the caller subsequently wants to advance to the
> next entry, xas_find() is called. xas_find() attempts to synchronize
> xas->xa_offset with xas->xa_index before advancing. However, the fixup
> logic was incorrectly restricted to leaf nodes (!xas->xa_node->shift).
> Because the THP resides in a non-leaf node, the fixup is skipped.
> 
> As a result, xas_find() simply increments xas->xa_offset and recalculates
> xas->xa_index based on this new offset. This causes xas->xa_index to jump
> backwards. If the THP was concurrently split, the entry at the new offset
> is a node pointer, so xas_find() descends into it and returns the folio at
> the backwards index. The caller (filemap_map_pages()) then calculates the
> PTE pointer based on this backwards index, resulting in an invalid memory
> access such as an out-of-bounds read or use-after-free on a page-table page
> freed via tlb_remove_table_rcu().
> 
> To fix this, check if xas->xa_offset matches get_offset(xas->xa_index,
> xas->xa_node). If it does not and the node is a non-leaf node, set
> xas->xa_offset to get_offset(xas->xa_index, xas->xa_node) before advancing.
> Also add test cases in test_xarray to verify xas_find() behavior when
> iterating over and splitting multi-index entries.

Thanks.  But the changelog omits vital information: a description of
the userspace-visible runtime effects of the bug.

> Fixes: b803b42823d0 ("xarray: Add XArray iterators")
> Assisted-by: Gemini:gemini-3.7-flash syzbot
> Reported-by: syzbot+b72767277f29b6407083@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
> Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=b72767277f29b6407083

I see from there that it was a use-after-free, detected by KASAN.  I'll
update the changelog and I'll add cc:stable.

I'll queue the patch for testing while awaiting review input.

> Link: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/ai_job?id=a01c56bd-74d0-411c-afb4-ee6f0cb6cb61