[PATCH v1.1 0/6] mm/damon: unurgent fixes for infinite loop, NULL de-ref and races

[PATCH v1.1 0/6] mm/damon: unurgent fixes for infinite loop, NULL de-ref and races

[SJ Park]

Sashiko found a few issues in DAMON that could cause infinite loop, NULL
dereference and monitoring results degradation.  The first two sounds
scary but the infinite loop happens only under unreasonable user setup.
The NULL dereference is only in a unit test.  Monitoring results
degradation is trivial since it is only best-effort, and those happens
from only unlikely races.  Still those are bugs that better to fix if
possible. Fix those.

Changes from v1
- v1: https://lore.kernel.org/20260714135236.92699-1-sj@kernel.org
- Add addr_unit race fix.
- Add Fixes: tags to the race fixes.
- Wordsmith subjects.
Changes from RFC v1.2
- RFC v1.2: https://lore.kernel.org/20260713135838.32730-1-sj@kernel.org
- Drop RFC tag.
- Rebase to latest mm-new.
Changes from RFC v1.1
- RFC v1.1: https://lore.kernel.org/20260712170328.91144-1-sj@kernel.org
- Remove same_target param from __damon_va_check_access().
Changes from RFC
- RFC: https://lore.kernel.org/20260711180409.82093-1-sj@kernel.org
- Rebase to mm-new.

SJ Park (6):
  mm/damon/core: avoid infinite kdamond_merge_regions() internal loop
  mm/damon/tests/core-kunit: catch test failure in
    test_merge_regions_of()
  mm/damon/vaddr: drop last same folio access check optimization
  mm/damon/paddr: drop last same folio access check reuse optimization
  mm/damon/sysfs: read addr_unit only once in damon_sysfs_apply_inputs()
  mm/damon/sysfs: read ops_id only once in damon_sysfs_apply_inputs()

 mm/damon/core.c             | 13 +++++++++----
 mm/damon/paddr.c            | 20 ++++----------------
 mm/damon/sysfs.c            | 10 ++++++----
 mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h |  3 +++
 mm/damon/vaddr.c            | 33 ++++++---------------------------
 5 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 51 deletions(-)


base-commit: 52d335d2c1de60b6184b9de5ecec634892a3e136
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v1.1 1/6] mm/damon/core: avoid infinite kdamond_merge_regions() internal loop

[SJ Park]

Due to online parameter update like events, the number of DAMON regions
could be higher than the user-set upper limit.  kdamond_merge_regions()
repeats merge regions until the number meets the limit, while doubling
the merge threshold up to the theoretical maximum threshold.  It is
tried only up to the theoretical maximum threshold because even the
aggressive merging can fail from reducing the number of regions under
the user-defined upper limit.  For example, there could be many
user-defined non-contiguous regions that cannot be merged.

The threshold based loop break condition is evaluated by comparing the
threshold for the next merging try against the theoretical maximum
threshold.  If max_thres is larger than UINT_MAX / 2, doubling the
threshold could make it overflow, and bypass the loop break condition.
In the case, if the number of regions cannot be reduced under the upper
limit like explained above, the loop will run infinitely.

Prevent the case by doing the break condition check before doubling the
threshold.  Also, prevent the threshold exceeding the maximum threshold,
as it could overflow and apply the wrong merge threshold.

This issue is unlikely to occur in real world, since having the
max_thres higher than UINT_MAX / 2 require unrealistically large
aggregation intervals compared to the sampling interval.  Also, it
requires an unrealistically large number of uncontiguous regions setup.
Nonetheless, the consequence is bad and the fix is simple.

The issue was discovered [1] by Sashiko.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/20260709145425.96247-1-sj@kernel.org

Fixes: 310d6c15e910 ("mm/damon/core: merge regions aggressively when max_nr_regions is unmet")
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 6.10.x
Signed-off-by: SJ Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 mm/damon/core.c | 13 +++++++++----
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/damon/core.c b/mm/damon/core.c
index 6c4215cc809ec..603b102ff80f9 100644
--- a/mm/damon/core.c
+++ b/mm/damon/core.c
@@ -3372,7 +3372,7 @@ static void kdamond_merge_regions(struct damon_ctx *c, unsigned int threshold,
 
 	max_thres = c->attrs.aggr_interval /
 		(c->attrs.sample_interval ?  c->attrs.sample_interval : 1);
-	do {
+	while (true) {
 		nr_regions = 0;
 		damon_for_each_target(t, c) {
 			damon_merge_regions_of(t, threshold, sz_limit, c,
@@ -3380,9 +3380,14 @@ static void kdamond_merge_regions(struct damon_ctx *c, unsigned int threshold,
 			nr_regions += damon_nr_regions(t);
 		}
 		count_age = false;
-		threshold = max(1, threshold * 2);
-	} while (nr_regions > c->attrs.max_nr_regions &&
-			threshold / 2 < max_thres);
+		if (nr_regions <= c->attrs.max_nr_regions ||
+				max_thres <= threshold)
+			break;
+		if (threshold < max_thres / 2)
+			threshold = max(1, threshold * 2);
+		else
+			threshold = max_thres;
+	}
 }
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_DAMON_DEBUG_SANITY
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v1.1 2/6] mm/damon/tests/core-kunit: catch test failure in test_merge_regions_of()

[SJ Park]

KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ() does not abort the execution of test code when the
expectation is not met.  But damon_test_merge_regions_of() code after
its initial KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ() call assumes the expectation is met.  It
does a per-region test with a hard-coded number of regions that is
correct only if the expectation was met.  As a result, __nth_region_of()
could return NULL, and the test code can dereference NULL pointers.  Fix
the issue by catching the expectation failure and skip the per-region
tests.

The user impact on realistic setups should be negligible, as it is a
unit test.

The issue was discovered [1] by Sashiko.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/20260710144937.26981-1-sj@kernel.org

Fixes: 17ccae8bb5c9 ("mm/damon: add kunit tests")
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 5.15.x
Signed-off-by: SJ Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h | 3 +++
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h b/mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h
index 485472ddebd19..eba643762132f 100644
--- a/mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h
+++ b/mm/damon/tests/core-kunit.h
@@ -260,11 +260,14 @@ static void damon_test_merge_regions_of(struct kunit *test)
 	damon_merge_regions_of(t, 9, 9999, ctx, true);
 	/* 0-112, 114-130, 130-156, 156-170, 170-230, 230-10170 */
 	KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, damon_nr_regions(t), 6u);
+	if (damon_nr_regions(t) != 6)
+		goto out;
 	for (i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
 		r = __nth_region_of(t, i);
 		KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, r->ar.start, saddrs[i]);
 		KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, r->ar.end, eaddrs[i]);
 	}
+out:
 	damon_free_target(t);
 	damon_destroy_ctx(ctx);
 }
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v1.1 3/6] mm/damon/vaddr: drop last same folio access check optimization

[SJ Park]

The optimization can race when multiple kdamonds are running.
Meanwhile, the impact of the optimization is quite doubtful.  Just
remove it.

The user impact of the issue should be quite trivial.  After all, the
race can happen only when the user intentionally setup DAMON in the way.
Even if it happens, it would be rare and only degrade the best-effort
monitoring results.  No critical consequences like kernel panic or
memory corruption happen.

The race possibility was discovered [1] by Sashiko.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/20260621204050.10993-1-sj@kernel.org

Fixes: 3f49584b262c ("mm/damon: implement primitives for the virtual memory address spaces")
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 5.15.x
Signed-off-by: SJ Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 mm/damon/vaddr.c | 33 ++++++---------------------------
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 27 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/damon/vaddr.c b/mm/damon/vaddr.c
index d10b8042adb5b..d487b7a4a1042 100644
--- a/mm/damon/vaddr.c
+++ b/mm/damon/vaddr.c
@@ -383,8 +383,6 @@ static void damon_va_prepare_access_checks(struct damon_ctx *ctx)
 }
 
 struct damon_young_walk_private {
-	/* size of the folio for the access checked virtual memory address */
-	unsigned long *folio_sz;
 	bool young;
 };
 
@@ -411,7 +409,6 @@ static int damon_young_pmd_entry(pmd_t *pmd, unsigned long addr,
 					mmu_notifier_test_young(walk->mm,
 						addr))
 			priv->young = true;
-		*priv->folio_sz = HPAGE_PMD_SIZE;
 huge_out:
 		spin_unlock(ptl);
 		return 0;
@@ -430,7 +427,6 @@ static int damon_young_pmd_entry(pmd_t *pmd, unsigned long addr,
 	if (pte_young(ptent) || !folio_test_idle(folio) ||
 			mmu_notifier_test_young(walk->mm, addr))
 		priv->young = true;
-	*priv->folio_sz = folio_size(folio);
 out:
 	pte_unmap_unlock(pte, ptl);
 	return 0;
@@ -458,7 +454,6 @@ static int damon_young_hugetlb_entry(pte_t *pte, unsigned long hmask,
 	if (pte_young(entry) || !folio_test_idle(folio) ||
 	    mmu_notifier_test_young(walk->mm, addr))
 		priv->young = true;
-	*priv->folio_sz = huge_page_size(h);
 
 	folio_put(folio);
 
@@ -470,11 +465,9 @@ static int damon_young_hugetlb_entry(pte_t *pte, unsigned long hmask,
 #define damon_young_hugetlb_entry NULL
 #endif /* CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE */
 
-static bool damon_va_young(struct mm_struct *mm, unsigned long addr,
-		unsigned long *folio_sz)
+static bool damon_va_young(struct mm_struct *mm, unsigned long addr)
 {
 	struct damon_young_walk_private arg = {
-		.folio_sz = folio_sz,
 		.young = false,
 	};
 
@@ -494,28 +487,17 @@ static bool damon_va_young(struct mm_struct *mm, unsigned long addr,
  * r	the region to be checked
  */
 static void __damon_va_check_access(struct mm_struct *mm,
-				struct damon_region *r, bool same_target)
+				struct damon_region *r)
 {
-	static unsigned long last_addr;
-	static unsigned long last_folio_sz = PAGE_SIZE;
-	static bool last_accessed;
+	bool accessed;
 
 	if (!mm) {
 		damon_update_region_access_rate(r, false);
 		return;
 	}
 
-	/* If the region is in the last checked page, reuse the result */
-	if (same_target && (ALIGN_DOWN(last_addr, last_folio_sz) ==
-				ALIGN_DOWN(r->sampling_addr, last_folio_sz))) {
-		damon_update_region_access_rate(r, last_accessed);
-		return;
-	}
-
-	last_accessed = damon_va_young(mm, r->sampling_addr, &last_folio_sz);
-	damon_update_region_access_rate(r, last_accessed);
-
-	last_addr = r->sampling_addr;
+	accessed = damon_va_young(mm, r->sampling_addr);
+	damon_update_region_access_rate(r, accessed);
 }
 
 static unsigned int damon_va_check_accesses(struct damon_ctx *ctx)
@@ -524,15 +506,12 @@ static unsigned int damon_va_check_accesses(struct damon_ctx *ctx)
 	struct mm_struct *mm;
 	struct damon_region *r;
 	unsigned int max_nr_accesses = 0;
-	bool same_target;
 
 	damon_for_each_target(t, ctx) {
 		mm = damon_get_mm(t);
-		same_target = false;
 		damon_for_each_region(r, t) {
-			__damon_va_check_access(mm, r, same_target);
+			__damon_va_check_access(mm, r);
 			max_nr_accesses = max(r->nr_accesses, max_nr_accesses);
-			same_target = true;
 		}
 		if (mm)
 			mmput(mm);
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v1.1 4/6] mm/damon/paddr: drop last same folio access check reuse optimization

[SJ Park]

It can race when multiple kdamonds are being used.  The problem from the
race is doubtful, but the gain from the optimization is also doubtful.
Simply drop the optimization in favor of code simplicity.

The user impact is doubtfully trivial.  After all, this kind of
interference can happen only by intentional user setup.  Even if it
happens, it will be rare, and the consequence is degradation of the
best-effort monitoring results.  No critical consequences like kernel
panic or memory corruption happen.

The race was discovered [1] by Sashiko.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/20260621204050.10993-1-sj@kernel.org

Fixes: a28397beb55b ("mm/damon: implement primitives for physical address space monitoring")
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 5.16.x
Signed-off-by: SJ Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 mm/damon/paddr.c | 20 ++++----------------
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/damon/paddr.c b/mm/damon/paddr.c
index b85f88a7a38f4..e4f98d67461f5 100644
--- a/mm/damon/paddr.c
+++ b/mm/damon/paddr.c
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ static void damon_pa_prepare_access_checks(struct damon_ctx *ctx)
 	}
 }
 
-static bool damon_pa_young(phys_addr_t paddr, unsigned long *folio_sz)
+static bool damon_pa_young(phys_addr_t paddr)
 {
 	struct folio *folio = damon_get_folio(PHYS_PFN(paddr));
 	bool accessed;
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@ static bool damon_pa_young(phys_addr_t paddr, unsigned long *folio_sz)
 		return false;
 
 	accessed = damon_folio_young(folio);
-	*folio_sz = folio_size(folio);
 	folio_put(folio);
 	return accessed;
 }
@@ -82,23 +81,12 @@ static bool damon_pa_young(phys_addr_t paddr, unsigned long *folio_sz)
 static void __damon_pa_check_access(struct damon_region *r,
 		unsigned long addr_unit)
 {
-	static phys_addr_t last_addr;
-	static unsigned long last_folio_sz = PAGE_SIZE;
-	static bool last_accessed;
+	bool accessed;
 	phys_addr_t sampling_addr = damon_pa_phys_addr(
 			r->sampling_addr, addr_unit);
 
-	/* If the region is in the last checked page, reuse the result */
-	if (ALIGN_DOWN(last_addr, last_folio_sz) ==
-				ALIGN_DOWN(sampling_addr, last_folio_sz)) {
-		damon_update_region_access_rate(r, last_accessed);
-		return;
-	}
-
-	last_accessed = damon_pa_young(sampling_addr, &last_folio_sz);
-	damon_update_region_access_rate(r, last_accessed);
-
-	last_addr = sampling_addr;
+	accessed = damon_pa_young(sampling_addr);
+	damon_update_region_access_rate(r, accessed);
 }
 
 static unsigned int damon_pa_check_accesses(struct damon_ctx *ctx)
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v1.1 5/6] mm/damon/sysfs: read addr_unit only once in damon_sysfs_apply_inputs()

[SJ Park]

damon_sysfs_apply_inputs() reads addr_unit twice.  It could race with
addr_unit_store().  As a result, the min_region_sz could wrongly be set
up.  Read it once.

The user impact is trivial.  Sane users ain't update the parameter in
parallel.  Even if it happens, the DAMON core layer handles the wrong
min_region_sz (!is_power_of_2()).  Even if somehow the race ended up
making a min_region_sz that is different from the user's intention but
still valid, only monitoring itself runs differently than expected.  No
critical consequences like kernel panic or memory corruption happen.

The issue was discovered [1] by Sashiko.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/20260714142950.100711-1-sj@kernel.org

Fixes: 540a2aebc657 ("mm/damon/sysfs: implement addr_unit file under context dir")
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 6.18.x
Signed-off-by: SJ Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 mm/damon/sysfs.c | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/damon/sysfs.c b/mm/damon/sysfs.c
index b5fe036f78015..65a502c7746c0 100644
--- a/mm/damon/sysfs.c
+++ b/mm/damon/sysfs.c
@@ -2099,11 +2099,11 @@ static int damon_sysfs_apply_inputs(struct damon_ctx *ctx,
 	err = damon_select_ops(ctx, sys_ctx->ops_id);
 	if (err)
 		return err;
-	ctx->addr_unit = sys_ctx->addr_unit;
+	ctx->addr_unit = READ_ONCE(sys_ctx->addr_unit);
 	/* addr_unit is respected by only DAMON_OPS_PADDR */
 	if (sys_ctx->ops_id == DAMON_OPS_PADDR)
 		ctx->min_region_sz = max(
-				DAMON_MIN_REGION_SZ / sys_ctx->addr_unit, 1);
+				DAMON_MIN_REGION_SZ / ctx->addr_unit, 1);
 	ctx->pause = sys_ctx->pause;
 	err = damon_sysfs_set_attrs(ctx, sys_ctx->attrs);
 	if (err)
-- 
2.47.3

[PATCH v1.1 6/6] mm/damon/sysfs: read ops_id only once in damon_sysfs_apply_inputs()

[SJ Park]

damon_sysfs_apply_inputs() reads ops_id twice.  It could race with
ops_id_store().  As a result, the min_region_sz could wrongly be set up.
Read it once.

The user impact is trivial.  Sane users ain't update the parameter in
parallel.  Even if it happens, the DAMON core layer handles the wrong
min_region_sz (!is_power_of_2()).  Even if somehow the race ended up
making a min_region_sz that is different from the user's intention but
still valid, only monitoring itself runs differently than expected.  No
critical consequences like kernel panic or memory corruption happen

The issue was discovered [1] by Sashiko.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/20260703172417.95426-1-sj@kernel.org

Fixes: 8d009da32f13 ("mm/damon/sysfs: set damon_ctx->min_sz_region only for paddr use case")
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 6.18.x
Signed-off-by: SJ Park <sj@kernel.org>
---
 mm/damon/sysfs.c | 6 ++++--
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/damon/sysfs.c b/mm/damon/sysfs.c
index 65a502c7746c0..d777411f851c8 100644
--- a/mm/damon/sysfs.c
+++ b/mm/damon/sysfs.c
@@ -2094,14 +2094,16 @@ static inline bool damon_sysfs_kdamond_running(
 static int damon_sysfs_apply_inputs(struct damon_ctx *ctx,
 		struct damon_sysfs_context *sys_ctx)
 {
+	enum damon_ops_id ops_id;
 	int err;
 
-	err = damon_select_ops(ctx, sys_ctx->ops_id);
+	ops_id = READ_ONCE(sys_ctx->ops_id);
+	err = damon_select_ops(ctx, ops_id);
 	if (err)
 		return err;
 	ctx->addr_unit = READ_ONCE(sys_ctx->addr_unit);
 	/* addr_unit is respected by only DAMON_OPS_PADDR */
-	if (sys_ctx->ops_id == DAMON_OPS_PADDR)
+	if (ops_id == DAMON_OPS_PADDR)
 		ctx->min_region_sz = max(
 				DAMON_MIN_REGION_SZ / ctx->addr_unit, 1);
 	ctx->pause = sys_ctx->pause;
-- 
2.47.3

Re: [PATCH v1.1 0/6] mm/damon: unurgent fixes for infinite loop, NULL de-ref and races

[SJ Park]

On Tue, 14 Jul 2026 20:09:55 -0700 SJ Park <sj@kernel.org> wrote:

> Sashiko found a few issues in DAMON that could cause infinite loop, NULL
> dereference and monitoring results degradation.  The first two sounds
> scary but the infinite loop happens only under unreasonable user setup.
> The NULL dereference is only in a unit test.  Monitoring results
> degradation is trivial since it is only best-effort, and those happens
> from only unlikely races.  Still those are bugs that better to fix if
> possible. Fix those.

Sashiko found no blocker for this series.  Sashiko sent findings to damon@
mailing list [1], and I replied to all the comments.  Please read those for
details.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/damon/


Thanks,
SJ

[...]

Re: [PATCH v1.1 0/6] mm/damon: unurgent fixes for infinite loop, NULL de-ref and races

[Andrew Morton]

On Tue, 14 Jul 2026 20:09:55 -0700 SJ Park <sj@kernel.org> wrote:

> Sashiko found a few issues in DAMON that could cause infinite loop, NULL
> dereference and monitoring results degradation.  The first two sounds
> scary but the infinite loop happens only under unreasonable user setup.
> The NULL dereference is only in a unit test.  Monitoring results
> degradation is trivial since it is only best-effort, and those happens
> from only unlikely races.  Still those are bugs that better to fix if
> possible. Fix those.

> Subject: [PATCH v1.1 0/6] ...

So... what is the significance of "1.1" here?

Re: [PATCH v1.1 0/6] mm/damon: unurgent fixes for infinite loop, NULL de-ref and races

[SJ Park]

On Tue, 14 Jul 2026 21:46:04 -0700 Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> wrote:

> On Tue, 14 Jul 2026 20:09:55 -0700 SJ Park <sj@kernel.org> wrote:
> 
> > Sashiko found a few issues in DAMON that could cause infinite loop, NULL
> > dereference and monitoring results degradation.  The first two sounds
> > scary but the infinite loop happens only under unreasonable user setup.
> > The NULL dereference is only in a unit test.  Monitoring results
> > degradation is trivial since it is only best-effort, and those happens
> > from only unlikely races.  Still those are bugs that better to fix if
> > possible. Fix those.
> 
> > Subject: [PATCH v1.1 0/6] ...
> 
> So... what is the significance of "1.1" here?

As the changelog says, one more unurgent fix (patch 5 of this sereis) has added
on top of the v1.

Maybe my versioning scheme is confusing you.  I increase minor version when it
is purely for findings from Sashiko and if the change seems not really big.  I
do so because I realized it is easy to get version number large in short term
when I respect Sashiko, and it may look confusing for some people.  Maybe a
better approach is running Sashiko in my local, but I don't have AI setup in my
development environment...  Let me know if this only confuses and bothers you
and you have a suggestion.


Thanks,
SJ