[PATCH v2] perf stat: Fix crash on arm64

Breno Leitao
2026-03-25T10:25:00Z

Perf stat is crashing on arm64 hosts with the following issue:

# make -C tools/perf DEBUG=1
# perf stat sleep 1
perf: util/evsel.c:2034: get_group_fd: Assertion `!(!leader->core.fd)' failed.
[1] 1220794 IOT instruction (core dumped) ./perf stat

The sorting function introduced by commit a745c0831c15c ("perf stat:
Sort default events/metrics") compares events based on their individual
properties. This can cause events from different groups to be
interleaved, resulting in group members appearing before their leaders
in the sorted evlist.

When the iterator opens events in list order, a group member may be
processed before its leader has been opened.

For example, CPU_CYCLES (idx=32) with leader STALL_SLOT_BACKEND (idx=37)
could be sorted before its leader, causing the crash when CPU_CYCLES
tries to get its group fd from the not-yet-opened leader.

Fix this by comparing events based on their leader's attributes instead
of their own attributes when the events are in different groups. This
ensures all members of a group share the same sort key as their leader,
keeping groups together and guaranteeing leaders are opened before their
members.

Reported-by: Denis Yaroshevskiy <dyaroshev@meta.com>
Fixes: a745c0831c15c ("perf stat: Sort default events/metrics")
Tested-by: Dmitry Ilvokhin <d@ilvokhin.com>
Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
---
Cc; linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org
---
Changes in v2:
- No changes from V1, just resending the exact same patch.
- Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20260205-perf_stat-v1-1-e433b0c918af@debian.org
---
tools/perf/builtin-stat.c | 26 +++++++++++++++++---------
1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
index 73c2ba7e30760..a97b9d0de3f58 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
@@ -1917,25 +1917,33 @@ static int default_evlist_evsel_cmp(void *priv __maybe_unused,
const struct evsel *lhs = container_of(lhs_core, struct evsel, core);
const struct perf_evsel *rhs_core = container_of(r, struct perf_evsel, node);
const struct evsel *rhs = container_of(rhs_core, struct evsel, core);
+ const struct evsel *lhs_leader = evsel__leader(lhs);
+ const struct evsel *rhs_leader = evsel__leader(rhs);

- if (evsel__leader(lhs) == evsel__leader(rhs)) {
+ if (lhs_leader == rhs_leader) {
/* Within the same group, respect the original order. */
return lhs_core->idx - rhs_core->idx;
}

+ /*
+ * Compare using leader's attributes so that all members of a group
+ * stay together. This ensures leaders are opened before their members.
+ */
+
/* Sort default metrics evsels first, and default show events before those. */
- if (lhs->default_metricgroup != rhs->default_metricgroup)
- return lhs->default_metricgroup ? -1 : 1;
+ if (lhs_leader->default_metricgroup != rhs_leader->default_metricgroup)
+ return lhs_leader->default_metricgroup ? -1 : 1;

- if (lhs->default_show_events != rhs->default_show_events)
- return lhs->default_show_events ? -1 : 1;
+ if (lhs_leader->default_show_events != rhs_leader->default_show_events)
+ return lhs_leader->default_show_events ? -1 : 1;

/* Sort by PMU type (prefers legacy types first). */
- if (lhs->pmu != rhs->pmu)
- return lhs->pmu->type - rhs->pmu->type;
+ if (lhs_leader->pmu != rhs_leader->pmu)
+ return lhs_leader->pmu->type - rhs_leader->pmu->type;

- /* Sort by name. */
- return strcmp(evsel__name((struct evsel *)lhs), evsel__name((struct evsel *)rhs));
+ /* Sort by leader's name. */
+ return strcmp(evsel__name((struct evsel *)lhs_leader),
+ evsel__name((struct evsel *)rhs_leader));
}

/*

---
base-commit: 85964cdcad0fac9a0eb7b87a0f9d88cc074b854c
change-id: 20260205-perf_stat-a0a2a37e21c5

Best regards,
--
Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>