From: Tim Chen <tim.c.chen@linux.intel.com>
To: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>
Cc: Tim Chen <tim.c.chen@linux.intel.com>,
Chen Yu <yu.c.chen@intel.com>, Hyunwoo Kim <imv4bel@gmail.com>,
Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>,
Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>,
Alexander Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>, Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>,
Juri Lelli <juri.lelli@redhat.com>,
Vincent Guittot <vincent.guittot@linaro.org>,
Dietmar Eggemann <dietmar.eggemann@arm.com>,
Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>,
Ben Segall <bsegall@google.com>, Mel Gorman <mgorman@suse.de>,
Valentin Schneider <vschneid@redhat.com>,
K Prateek Nayak <kprateek.nayak@amd.com>,
Shrikanth Hegde <sshegde@linux.ibm.com>,
Qais Yousef <qyousef@layalina.io>,
Aaron Lu <ziqianlu@bytedance.com>,
Srikar Dronamraju <srikar@linux.ibm.com>,
Vineeth Remanan Pillai <vineethr@linux.ibm.com>,
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-mm@kvack.org,
"chen . yu @ linux . dev" <chen.yu@linux.dev>
Subject: [PATCH 0/2] sched/cache: Fix use after free mm access in account_mm_sched()
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 17:08:54 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <cover.1788305725.git.tim.c.chen@linux.intel.com> (raw)
Hyunwoo Kim reported a KASAN use-after-free in account_mm_sched():
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/apPb-Dr4nPYuHQOK@v4bel/
Cache-aware scheduling keeps its per-address-space statistics inside the
mm:
struct mm_struct {
...
struct sched_cache_stat sc_stat;
};
so their lifetime is the mm's lifetime. mm_alloc_sched() allocates
sc_stat.pcpu_sched from mm_init(), and mm_destroy_sched() frees it from
__mmdrop().
The scheduler, though, reaches that object from contexts that hold no
reference on the mm:
- account_mm_sched() runs from update_curr() holding only the rq lock,
and dereferences rq->curr->mm.
- the load-balance predicates - can_migrate_llc_task() ->
invalid_llc_nr() / exceed_llc_capacity() - and the task_cache_work()
LLC occupancy scan read p->mm of *remote* tasks.
Nothing on those paths keeps the mm alive, so an exit, or an exec_mmap()
installing a new mm, can free pcpu_sched underneath a concurrent reader.
Serializing the two sides - taking the rq lock in the mm teardown path -
would put a scheduler lock in the middle of __mmdrop(), which is a lot
of coupling to pay for a statistics object. Give the object its own
lifetime instead.
Patch 1 lifts sched_cache_stat out of mm_struct, renames it
sched_cache_group, and turns it into a refcounted object freed via
call_rcu(); the mm now merely points at it.
Patch 2 gives every task its own reference in
task_struct->sched_cache_grp - taken in copy_mm() and exec_mmap(),
dropped in exit_mm() - and converts the scheduler to read
p->sched_cache_grp rather than p->mm->sc_stat. Readers access
the sched_cache_grp without worry that it was freed as it
has a ref count on the object.
The two patches are one fix. Patch 1 does not stand alone, so they need
to be applied, and backported, as a pair.
A welcome side effect of the decoupling is that the group is no longer
welded to an address space, so a later series can key it on a cgroup, a
core-scheduling cookie or a numa_group instead of on a single mm.
These are the first two patches of the cache-aware prctl RFC series
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/cover.1787955777.git.tim.c.chen@linux.intel.com/
reposted on their own with the changelogs rewritten and minor updates around the
use-after-free, so that they can be considered ahead of the rest of that
series. Hyunwoo confirmed the splat is gone; his Tested-by is on both
patches.
Tim
---
Tim Chen (2):
sched/cache: Decouple sched_cache_group from mm
sched/cache: Introduce task_struct->sched_cache_grp
fs/exec.c | 14 +++
include/linux/mm_types.h | 15 +--
include/linux/sched.h | 11 +-
kernel/exit.c | 28 ++++--
kernel/fork.c | 23 +++++
kernel/sched/build_utility.c | 4 +
kernel/sched/cache_sched.c | 39 ++++++++
kernel/sched/fair.c | 188 ++++++++++++++++++++++-------------
kernel/sched/sched.h | 3 +
9 files changed, 239 insertions(+), 86 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 kernel/sched/cache_sched.c
--
2.32.0
next reply other threads:[~2026-09-02 0:04 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-09-02 0:08 Tim Chen [this message]
2026-09-02 0:08 ` [PATCH 1/2] sched/cache: Decouple sched_cache_group from mm Tim Chen
2026-09-02 0:08 ` [PATCH 2/2] sched/cache: Introduce task_struct->sched_cache_grp Tim Chen
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