Re: [PATCH 8/8] mm: enable maple tree RCU mode by default.

Liam R. Howlett
2023-03-27T19:48:32Z

* Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> [230327 15:38]:
> On Mon, 27 Mar 2023 14:55:32 -0400 "Liam R. Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@oracle.com> wrote:
>
> > Use the maple tree in RCU mode for VMA tracking.
> >
> > The maple tree tracks the stack and is able to update the pivot
> > (lower/upper boundary) in-place to allow the page fault handler to write
> > to the tree while holding just the mmap read lock. This is safe as the
> > writes to the stack have a guard VMA which ensures there will always be
> > a NULL in the direction of the growth and thus will only update a pivot.
> >
> > It is possible, but not recommended, to have VMAs that grow up/down
> > without guard VMAs. syzbot has constructed a testcase which sets up a
> > VMA to grow and consume the empty space. Overwriting the entire NULL
> > entry causes the tree to be altered in a way that is not safe for
> > concurrent readers; the readers may see a node being rewritten or one
> > that does not match the maple state they are using.
> >
> > Enabling RCU mode allows the concurrent readers to see a stable node and
>
> This differs from what had. Intended?

Yes, this is not necessary. The scope of this tree is limited to the
function do_vmi_align_munmap() and so we don't need to free the nodes
with RCU.

Thanks,
Liam

>
> --- a/mm/mmap.c~mm-enable-maple-tree-rcu-mode-by-default-v8
> +++ a/mm/mmap.c
> @@ -2277,8 +2277,7 @@ do_vmi_align_munmap(struct vma_iterator
> int count = 0;
> int error = -ENOMEM;
> MA_STATE(mas_detach, &mt_detach, 0, 0);
> - mt_init_flags(&mt_detach, vmi->mas.tree->ma_flags &
> - (MT_FLAGS_LOCK_MASK | MT_FLAGS_USE_RCU));
> + mt_init_flags(&mt_detach, vmi->mas.tree->ma_flags & MT_FLAGS_LOCK_MASK);
> mt_set_external_lock(&mt_detach, &mm->mmap_lock);
>
> /*
> _
>