[PATCH v2] percpu: add basic double free check

Dennis Zhou
2026-01-16T02:32:19Z

This adds a basic double free check by validating the first bit of the
allocation in alloc_map and bound_map are set. If the alloc_map bit is
not set, then this means the area is currently unallocated. If the
bound_map bit is not set, then we are not freeing from the beginning of
the allocation.

This is a respin of [1] adding the requested changes from me and
Christoph.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20250904143514.Yk6Ap-jy@linutronix.de/

Signed-off-by: Dennis Zhou <dennis@kernel.org>
Cc: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@linutronix.de>
---
v2:
- moved pcpu_stats_area_dealloc()
- added additional check for bit_off out of bounds

mm/percpu.c | 23 ++++++++++++++++++++---
1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/percpu.c b/mm/percpu.c
index 81462ce5866e..2f1ac2059a15 100644
--- a/mm/percpu.c
+++ b/mm/percpu.c
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@
#include <linux/mutex.h>
#include <linux/percpu.h>
#include <linux/pfn.h>
+#include <linux/ratelimit.h>
#include <linux/slab.h>
#include <linux/spinlock.h>
#include <linux/vmalloc.h>
@@ -1276,18 +1277,24 @@ static int pcpu_alloc_area(struct pcpu_chunk *chunk, int alloc_bits,
static int pcpu_free_area(struct pcpu_chunk *chunk, int off)
{
struct pcpu_block_md *chunk_md = &chunk->chunk_md;
+ int region_bits = pcpu_chunk_map_bits(chunk);
int bit_off, bits, end, oslot, freed;

lockdep_assert_held(&pcpu_lock);
- pcpu_stats_area_dealloc(chunk);

oslot = pcpu_chunk_slot(chunk);

bit_off = off / PCPU_MIN_ALLOC_SIZE;
+ if (unlikely(bit_off < 0 || bit_off >= region_bits))
+ return 0;
+
+ /* check double free */
+ if (!test_bit(bit_off, chunk->alloc_map) ||
+ !test_bit(bit_off, chunk->bound_map))
+ return 0;

/* find end index */
- end = find_next_bit(chunk->bound_map, pcpu_chunk_map_bits(chunk),
- bit_off + 1);
+ end = find_next_bit(chunk->bound_map, region_bits, bit_off + 1);
bits = end - bit_off;
bitmap_clear(chunk->alloc_map, bit_off, bits);

@@ -1303,6 +1310,8 @@ static int pcpu_free_area(struct pcpu_chunk *chunk, int off)

pcpu_chunk_relocate(chunk, oslot);

+ pcpu_stats_area_dealloc(chunk);
+
return freed;
}

@@ -2225,6 +2234,7 @@ static void pcpu_balance_workfn(struct work_struct *work)
*/
void free_percpu(void __percpu *ptr)
{
+ static DEFINE_RATELIMIT_STATE(_rs, 60 * HZ, DEFAULT_RATELIMIT_BURST);
void *addr;
struct pcpu_chunk *chunk;
unsigned long flags;
@@ -2242,6 +2252,13 @@ void free_percpu(void __percpu *ptr)

spin_lock_irqsave(&pcpu_lock, flags);
size = pcpu_free_area(chunk, off);
+ if (size == 0) {
+ spin_unlock_irqrestore(&pcpu_lock, flags);
+
+ if (__ratelimit(&_rs))
+ WARN(1, "percpu double free or bad ptr\n");
+ return;
+ }

pcpu_alloc_tag_free_hook(chunk, off, size);

--
2.43.0