[PATCH 6.18 627/752] mm/vmalloc: prevent RCU stalls in kasan_release_vmalloc_node

Sasha Levin
2026-02-28T17:57:21Z

From: Deepanshu Kartikey <kartikey406@gmail.com>

[ Upstream commit 5747435e0fd474c24530ef1a6822f47e7d264b27 ]

When CONFIG_PAGE_OWNER is enabled, freeing KASAN shadow pages during
vmalloc cleanup triggers expensive stack unwinding that acquires RCU read
locks. Processing a large purge_list without rescheduling can cause the
task to hold CPU for extended periods (10+ seconds), leading to RCU stalls
and potential OOM conditions.

The issue manifests in purge_vmap_node() -> kasan_release_vmalloc_node()
where iterating through hundreds or thousands of vmap_area entries and
freeing their associated shadow pages causes:

rcu: INFO: rcu_preempt detected stalls on CPUs/tasks:
rcu: Tasks blocked on level-0 rcu_node (CPUs 0-1): P6229/1:b..l
...
task:kworker/0:17 state:R running task stack:28840 pid:6229
...
kasan_release_vmalloc_node+0x1ba/0xad0 mm/vmalloc.c:2299
purge_vmap_node+0x1ba/0xad0 mm/vmalloc.c:2299

Each call to kasan_release_vmalloc() can free many pages, and with
page_owner tracking, each free triggers save_stack() which performs stack
unwinding under RCU read lock. Without yielding, this creates an
unbounded RCU critical section.

Add periodic cond_resched() calls within the loop to allow:
- RCU grace periods to complete
- Other tasks to run
- Scheduler to preempt when needed

The fix uses need_resched() for immediate response under load, with a
batch count of 32 as a guaranteed upper bound to prevent worst-case stalls
even under light load.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20260112103612.627247-1-kartikey406@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Deepanshu Kartikey <kartikey406@gmail.com>
Reported-by: syzbot+d8d4c31d40f868eaea30@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=d8d4c31d40f868eaea30
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260112084723.622910-1-kartikey406@gmail.com/T/ [v1]
Suggested-by: Uladzislau Rezki <urezki@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Uladzislau Rezki (Sony) <urezki@gmail.com>
Cc: Hillf Danton <hdanton@sina.com>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---
mm/vmalloc.c | 8 ++++++++
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)

diff --git a/mm/vmalloc.c b/mm/vmalloc.c
index 4fbd6e7dc479a..e2f526ad7abba 100644
--- a/mm/vmalloc.c
+++ b/mm/vmalloc.c
@@ -2241,11 +2241,14 @@ decay_va_pool_node(struct vmap_node *vn, bool full_decay)
reclaim_list_global(&decay_list);
}

+#define KASAN_RELEASE_BATCH_SIZE 32
+
static void
kasan_release_vmalloc_node(struct vmap_node *vn)
{
struct vmap_area *va;
unsigned long start, end;
+ unsigned int batch_count = 0;

start = list_first_entry(&vn->purge_list, struct vmap_area, list)->va_start;
end = list_last_entry(&vn->purge_list, struct vmap_area, list)->va_end;
@@ -2255,6 +2258,11 @@ kasan_release_vmalloc_node(struct vmap_node *vn)
kasan_release_vmalloc(va->va_start, va->va_end,
va->va_start, va->va_end,
KASAN_VMALLOC_PAGE_RANGE);
+
+ if (need_resched() || (++batch_count >= KASAN_RELEASE_BATCH_SIZE)) {
+ cond_resched();
+ batch_count = 0;
+ }
}

kasan_release_vmalloc(start, end, start, end, KASAN_VMALLOC_TLB_FLUSH);
--
2.51.0