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From: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
To: Hyunwoo Kim <imv4bel@gmail.com>
Cc: david@kernel.org, ljs@kernel.org, liam@infradead.org,
	vbabka@kernel.org, rppt@kernel.org, surenb@google.com,
	mhocko@suse.com, linux-mm@kvack.org,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, stable@vger.kernel.org,
	Max Boone <mboone@akamai.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 1/2] mm/pagewalk: fix stale walk->action escaping walk_pmd_range()
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2026 14:57:56 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260811145756.6a9af6f7d3d04c8b00a0f3ee@linux-foundation.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <anuDYOPa0kTD9bul@v4bel>

On Wed, 12 Aug 2026 05:17:36 +0900 Hyunwoo Kim <imv4bel@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 11, 2026 at 12:37:02PM -0700, Andrew Morton wrote:
> > On Wed, 12 Aug 2026 01:18:57 +0900 Hyunwoo Kim <imv4bel@gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > If ->pmd_entry() sets walk->action = ACTION_AGAIN, the pmd_none()
> > > check is retried. The PMD entry may be cleared at the point of retry.
> > > 
> > > In this case, if walk->ops->install_pte is not specified, the code
> > > continues to the next PMD entry in the range without resetting
> > > walk->action to ACTION_SUBTREE.
> > > 
> > > This leaves walk->action erroneously set to ACTION_AGAIN, which is
> > > incorrect.
> > > 
> > > This was incorrect but not problematic up until commit 3b89863c3fa4
> > > ("mm/pagewalk: fix race between concurrent split and refault")
> > > which updated walk_pud_range() to check for walk->action ==
> > > ACTION_AGAIN upon walk_pmd_range()'s return, causing the PUD walk
> > > to be retried.
> > > 
> > > In this case this results in duplicate walk callbacks being
> > > invoked, which is erroneous and will break any caller that is not
> > > idempotent with respect to this (and waste time for those which
> > > are).
> > 
> > "break".  Please describe the breakage completely.  It's really the
> > most important information in the whole effort.
> > 
> > IOW, when fixing a bug please describe the userspace-visible runtime
> > effects of that bug.
> > 
> > eg, what were the results of the fuzzer?  
> 
> To be precise, this is an out-of-bounds write.
> 
> > Is there a Link:?  
> 
> This came from a local fuzzer, so there is no Link:

OK, thanks.

> 
> > A stack trace?
> 
> ...
> 
> Should I send a v3 with the changelog fixed? (in 24 hours, I guess?)
> 

That's OK, I pasted it in there.

  reply	other threads:[~2026-08-11 21:57 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 12+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-08-11 16:18 [PATCH v2 0/2] mm/pagewalk: fix stale walk->action escaping walk_pmd_range() Hyunwoo Kim
2026-08-11 16:18 ` [PATCH v2 1/2] " Hyunwoo Kim
2026-08-11 16:23   ` Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)
2026-08-11 17:10   ` David Hildenbrand (Arm)
2026-08-11 19:37   ` Andrew Morton
2026-08-11 20:17     ` Hyunwoo Kim
2026-08-11 21:57       ` Andrew Morton [this message]
2026-08-11 16:18 ` [PATCH v2 2/2] selftests/mm: add stale walk->action race test Hyunwoo Kim
2026-08-11 16:33   ` Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)
2026-08-11 17:11   ` David Hildenbrand (Arm)
2026-08-11 18:23     ` Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)
2026-08-11 18:49       ` David Hildenbrand (Arm)

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