Re: [PATCH v8 10/30] mm: make PMD migration-entry splitting explicit

[Usama Arif <usama.arif@linux.dev>]

On Wed, 07 Oct 2026 22:53:51 -0400 "Zi Yan" <ziy@nvidia.com> wrote:

> On Fri Oct 2, 2026 at 5:52 AM EDT, Usama Arif wrote:
> > __split_huge_pmd() and friends take a "freeze" boolean that every caller
> > has to pass and almost every caller passes as false. The name says nothing
> > about what it selects, and the one thing it does select - PTE migration
> > entries instead of PTE mappings - is only ever wanted by the rmap migration
> > path.
> >
> > Rename it to to_migration_entries, keep it private to mm/huge_memory.c,
> > and add split_pmd_to_migration_entries() for try_to_migrate_one(), the only
> > caller that wants it.
> >
> > migrate_vma_split_unmapped_folio() also passed freeze=true, but only ever
> > runs on a PMD that is already a migration entry, which the generic helper
> 
> Is it always a PMD migration entry? Can a concurrent MADV_DONTNEED zap
> the PMD migration entry or split it with a partial zap? Although it
> does not affect the correctness of the patch.
> 

Yes. Migration holds mmap_lock for reading, and MADV_DONTNEED can
clear or split the migration PMD without taking the source folio
lock. The PMD need not still be a migration entry when the split
helper checks it.

> If that concurrent zap is possible, the existing code can leak a ref,
> causing the folio to be not freed, since
> split_huge_pmd_address(freeze=true) does not drop the folio refcount
> when the PMD is zapped or becomes a PTE page.
>

Agreed. The old extra folio_get() leaks if the helper finds an empty
PMD or a PTE table and returns without consuming that reference.
folio_split_unmapped() can then fail because of the unexpected ref.

> We might want a separate fix for it.
> 

Extracted it into a separate prerequisite fix, with your Reported-by,
a Fixes tag and stable Cc. It removes the extra reference and passes
freeze=false using the old API. An existing migration PMD becomes
PTE migration entries either way; a concurrent zap or split no longer
leaves an extra reference behind.


> Actually, Mika Penttilä's "migrate on fault for device pages"[1] also
> talks about the race.
> 
> [1] https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260924065313.899730-1-mpenttil@redhat.com
> 
> > expands into PTE migration entries either way. Its folio_get() only existed
> > to balance the put_page() that freeze=true performs, so both go.
> >
> > split_pmd_to_migration_entries() is only ever handed a present or
> > device-private PMD, so assert that in __split_huge_pmd_locked() instead of
> > silently skipping anything else.
> >
> > Other than that assertion, no functional change intended.
> >
> > Suggested-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) <david@kernel.org>
> > Signed-off-by: Usama Arif <usama.arif@linux.dev>
> > Reviewed-by: Kiryl Shutsemau (Meta) <kas@kernel.org>
> > ---
> >  include/linux/huge_mm.h | 21 ++++++------
> >  mm/huge_memory.c        | 74 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------
> >  mm/memory.c             |  4 +--
> >  mm/migrate_device.c     |  7 +---
> >  mm/mprotect.c           |  2 +-
> >  mm/rmap.c               |  8 ++---
> >  6 files changed, 65 insertions(+), 51 deletions(-)
> >
> 
> <snip>
> > diff --git a/mm/migrate_device.c b/mm/migrate_device.c
> > index 0c437004329d9..4a0b61d50d222 100644
> > --- a/mm/migrate_device.c
> > +++ b/mm/migrate_device.c
> > @@ -918,12 +918,7 @@ static int migrate_vma_split_unmapped_folio(struct migrate_vma *migrate,
> >  	unsigned long flags;
> >  	int ret = 0;
> >  
> > -	/*
> > -	 * take a reference, since split_huge_pmd_address() with freeze = true
> > -	 * drops a reference at the end.
> > -	 */
> > -	folio_get(folio);
> > -	split_huge_pmd_address(migrate->vma, addr, true);
> > +	split_huge_pmd_address(migrate->vma, addr);
> >  	ret = folio_split_unmapped(folio, 0);
> >  	if (ret)
> >  		return ret;
> 
> This part can be a separate fix for the refcount leak.
> 
> Otherwise, LGTM.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Best Regards,
> Yan, Zi
> 
>