* [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling
@ 2026-07-10 6:03 Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 6:03 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 1/3] mm/slab: fix a memory leak due to bootstrapping sheaves twice Harry Yoo (Oracle)
` (3 more replies)
0 siblings, 4 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Harry Yoo (Oracle) @ 2026-07-10 6:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Vlastimil Babka, Andrew Morton, Hao Li, Christoph Lameter,
David Rientjes, Roman Gushchin, Suren Baghdasaryan, Hao Ge,
Kees Cook, Pedro Falcato, Shakeel Butt, Danielle Constantino,
Liam R. Howlett
Cc: linux-mm, linux-kernel, Harry Yoo (Oracle)
This is a follow-up fix after the recent discussion [1].
See patch 2 for the detailed description on the bug.
Based on slab/for-next-fixes (72bb229f916) and will be soon available
at git.kernel.org [2].
Instead preventing cycles by bumping up the allocation size of obj_exts
arrays, it introduces a new kmalloc type called KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT and
disallow formation of cycles between kmalloc types when allocating
obj_exts arrays. obj_exts arrays of normal kmalloc caches are served
from KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT caches (that don't have obj_exts), and all other
obj_exts arrays are served from normal kmalloc caches.
I tried to reuse SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE to make kmalloc_slab() select
KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT, but it was not great because it does not allow
sheaves for those caches. So I introduced a new slab alloc flag
SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT.
To avoid huge confusion, I had to decouple "disallowing sheaves"
semantics from SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT and introduced SLAB_NO_SHEAVES.
While this cannot be directly backported to v6.18 and v6.12 due to lack
of SLAB_ALLOC_* flags and kmalloc_flags(), I don't this will be
particularily challenging to backport it. Instead of a new slab alloc
flag, we can use __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT to select KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT as
kmalloc caches don't have sheaves in v6.18 anyway.
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/9a139365-28e6-4f1e-b35b-7f6091e9aa14@kernel.org
[2] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/harry/linux.git/log/?h=kmalloc-no-objext-v2r2
[ "v2r2" because after exposing v2r1 I adjusted some of Vlastimil's
feedback and fixed a memory leak due to bootstrapping twice when
kmalloc caches are aliased ]
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo (Oracle) <harry@kernel.org>
---
Changes in v2:
- Fix a memory leak when kmalloc caches are aliased (patch 1).
This is included as part of this series as patch 3 makes it
easier to trigger the leak.
- Fix a warning in MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING_DEBUG by dropping
mark_obj_codetag_empty() for obj_exts. Sashiko raised this and
I reproduced it and confirmed that the warnings are gone.
https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260702-kmalloc-no-objext-v1-0-167175008538%40kernel.org
- Added R-b from Vlastimil on patch 2, thanks!
- Adjusted Vlastimil's feedback on RFC v1
- Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260702-kmalloc-no-objext-v1-0-167175008538@kernel.org
---
Harry Yoo (Oracle) (3):
mm/slab: fix a memory leak due to bootstrapping sheaves twice
mm/slab: decouple SLAB_NO_SHEAVES from SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT
mm/slab: prevent unbounded recursion in free path with new kmalloc type
include/linux/slab.h | 16 +++++++-
mm/slab.h | 15 +++++--
mm/slab_common.c | 18 ++++++++-
mm/slub.c | 109 +++++++++++++++++++++------------------------------
4 files changed, 88 insertions(+), 70 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: 72bb229f9161a1efcd5df32141b69fcc6ae81a13
change-id: 20260702-kmalloc-no-objext-2619c1e06083
Best regards,
--
Harry Yoo (Oracle) <harry@kernel.org>
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 1/3] mm/slab: fix a memory leak due to bootstrapping sheaves twice
2026-07-10 6:03 [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling Harry Yoo (Oracle)
@ 2026-07-10 6:03 ` Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 6:03 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 2/3] mm/slab: decouple SLAB_NO_SHEAVES from SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT Harry Yoo (Oracle)
` (2 subsequent siblings)
3 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Harry Yoo (Oracle) @ 2026-07-10 6:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Vlastimil Babka, Andrew Morton, Hao Li, Christoph Lameter,
David Rientjes, Roman Gushchin, Suren Baghdasaryan, Hao Ge,
Kees Cook, Pedro Falcato, Shakeel Butt, Danielle Constantino,
Liam R. Howlett
Cc: linux-mm, linux-kernel, Harry Yoo (Oracle)
When kmalloc caches are aliased, multiple cache pointers reference
the same kmem_cache. As a result, iterating over kmalloc indices and
bootstrapping sheaves can bootstrap the same cache more than once and
leak memory.
Currently, this could happen when the architecture specifies
minimum alignment for slab caches that is larger than
ARCH_KMALLOC_MINALIGN.
Bootstrap sheaves only when the cache does not have them already.
Add a warning when bootstrap_cache_sheaves() is called for a cache
that already has sheaves enabled.
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Fixes: 913ffd3a1bf5 ("slab: handle kmalloc sheaves bootstrap")
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo (Oracle) <harry@kernel.org>
---
mm/slub.c | 9 +++++++--
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
index 65febe957886..f9461a0c47d3 100644
--- a/mm/slub.c
+++ b/mm/slub.c
@@ -8497,6 +8497,8 @@ static void __init bootstrap_cache_sheaves(struct kmem_cache *s)
bool failed = false;
int node, cpu;
+ VM_WARN_ON_ONCE(cache_has_sheaves(s));
+
capacity = calculate_sheaf_capacity(s, &empty_args);
/* capacity can be 0 due to debugging or SLUB_TINY */
@@ -8548,8 +8550,11 @@ static void __init bootstrap_kmalloc_sheaves(void)
for (type = KMALLOC_NORMAL; type <= KMALLOC_PARTITION_END; type++) {
for (int idx = 0; idx < KMALLOC_SHIFT_HIGH + 1; idx++) {
- if (kmalloc_caches[type][idx])
- bootstrap_cache_sheaves(kmalloc_caches[type][idx]);
+ struct kmem_cache *s = kmalloc_caches[type][idx];
+
+ /* Do not bootstrap twice when caches are aliased */
+ if (s && !cache_has_sheaves(s))
+ bootstrap_cache_sheaves(s);
}
}
}
--
2.53.0
^ permalink raw reply related [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 2/3] mm/slab: decouple SLAB_NO_SHEAVES from SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT
2026-07-10 6:03 [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 6:03 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 1/3] mm/slab: fix a memory leak due to bootstrapping sheaves twice Harry Yoo (Oracle)
@ 2026-07-10 6:03 ` Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 6:03 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 3/3] mm/slab: prevent unbounded recursion in free path with new kmalloc type Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 13:07 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling Vlastimil Babka (SUSE)
3 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Harry Yoo (Oracle) @ 2026-07-10 6:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Vlastimil Babka, Andrew Morton, Hao Li, Christoph Lameter,
David Rientjes, Roman Gushchin, Suren Baghdasaryan, Hao Ge,
Kees Cook, Pedro Falcato, Shakeel Butt, Danielle Constantino,
Liam R. Howlett
Cc: linux-mm, linux-kernel, Harry Yoo (Oracle)
Bootstrap caches are created with SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT to disallow sheaves
and obj_exts.
To allow disabling obj_exts while allowing sheaves, decouple
SLAB_NO_SHEAVES from SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT. Bootstrap caches now have both
SLAB_NO_SHEAVES and SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT.
No functional change intended.
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Fixes: e47c897a2949 ("slab: add sheaves to most caches")
Reviewed-by: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) <vbabka@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo (Oracle) <harry@kernel.org>
---
include/linux/slab.h | 13 +++++++++++--
mm/slub.c | 10 ++++++----
2 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/include/linux/slab.h b/include/linux/slab.h
index 51f03f18c9a7..08d7b6c9c4d6 100644
--- a/include/linux/slab.h
+++ b/include/linux/slab.h
@@ -58,10 +58,13 @@ enum _slab_flag_bits {
#endif
_SLAB_OBJECT_POISON,
_SLAB_CMPXCHG_DOUBLE,
+#ifdef CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT
_SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT,
-#if defined(CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT) && defined(CONFIG_64BIT)
+#ifdef CONFIG_64BIT
_SLAB_OBJ_EXT_IN_OBJ,
#endif
+#endif
+ _SLAB_NO_SHEAVES,
_SLAB_FLAGS_LAST_BIT
};
@@ -239,8 +242,14 @@ enum _slab_flag_bits {
#endif
#define SLAB_TEMPORARY SLAB_RECLAIM_ACCOUNT /* Objects are short-lived */
-/* Slab created using create_boot_cache */
+/* Slab caches without obj_exts array */
+#ifdef CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT
#define SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT __SLAB_FLAG_BIT(_SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT)
+#else
+#define SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT __SLAB_FLAG_UNUSED
+#endif
+
+#define SLAB_NO_SHEAVES __SLAB_FLAG_BIT(_SLAB_NO_SHEAVES)
#if defined(CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT) && defined(CONFIG_64BIT)
#define SLAB_OBJ_EXT_IN_OBJ __SLAB_FLAG_BIT(_SLAB_OBJ_EXT_IN_OBJ)
diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
index f9461a0c47d3..abe748b7dddb 100644
--- a/mm/slub.c
+++ b/mm/slub.c
@@ -7799,12 +7799,12 @@ static unsigned int calculate_sheaf_capacity(struct kmem_cache *s,
return 0;
/*
- * Bootstrap caches can't have sheaves for now (SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT).
+ * Bootstrap caches can't have sheaves for now (SLAB_NO_SHEAVES).
* SLAB_NOLEAKTRACE caches (e.g., kmemleak's object_cache) must not
* have sheaves to avoid recursion when sheaf allocation triggers
* kmemleak tracking.
*/
- if (s->flags & (SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT | SLAB_NOLEAKTRACE))
+ if (s->flags & (SLAB_NO_SHEAVES | SLAB_NOLEAKTRACE))
return 0;
/*
@@ -8586,7 +8586,8 @@ void __init kmem_cache_init(void)
create_boot_cache(kmem_cache_node, "kmem_cache_node",
sizeof(struct kmem_cache_node),
- SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN | SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT, 0, 0);
+ SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN | SLAB_NO_SHEAVES | SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT,
+ 0, 0);
hotplug_node_notifier(slab_memory_callback, SLAB_CALLBACK_PRI);
@@ -8596,7 +8597,8 @@ void __init kmem_cache_init(void)
create_boot_cache(kmem_cache, "kmem_cache",
offsetof(struct kmem_cache, per_node) +
nr_node_ids * sizeof(struct kmem_cache_per_node_ptrs),
- SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN | SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT, 0, 0);
+ SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN | SLAB_NO_SHEAVES | SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT,
+ 0, 0);
kmem_cache = bootstrap(&boot_kmem_cache);
kmem_cache_node = bootstrap(&boot_kmem_cache_node);
--
2.53.0
^ permalink raw reply related [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 3/3] mm/slab: prevent unbounded recursion in free path with new kmalloc type
2026-07-10 6:03 [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 6:03 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 1/3] mm/slab: fix a memory leak due to bootstrapping sheaves twice Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 6:03 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 2/3] mm/slab: decouple SLAB_NO_SHEAVES from SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT Harry Yoo (Oracle)
@ 2026-07-10 6:03 ` Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 13:07 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling Vlastimil Babka (SUSE)
3 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Harry Yoo (Oracle) @ 2026-07-10 6:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Vlastimil Babka, Andrew Morton, Hao Li, Christoph Lameter,
David Rientjes, Roman Gushchin, Suren Baghdasaryan, Hao Ge,
Kees Cook, Pedro Falcato, Shakeel Butt, Danielle Constantino,
Liam R. Howlett
Cc: linux-mm, linux-kernel, Harry Yoo (Oracle)
Commit 280ea9c3154b ("mm/slab: avoid allocating slabobj_ext array from
its own slab") avoided recursive allocation of obj_exts from kmalloc
caches of the same size, by bumping the obj_exts array's allocation
size whenever the array size equals the size of the object being
allocated.
However, as reported by Danielle Costantino and Shakeel Butt,
even slabs from kmalloc caches of different sizes can form a cycle
by allocating obj_exts arrays from each other [1]:
What happened: a KMALLOC_NORMAL slab's obj_exts array (used by
allocation profiling / memcg accounting) is itself kmalloc()'d from a
KMALLOC_NORMAL cache, so the "slab holds another slab's obj_exts array"
relation can form cycles. With sizeof(struct slabobj_ext) == 16 and
the host's geometry:
- kmalloc-512 has 64 objects/slab -> array is 64*16 == 1024 bytes,
served from kmalloc-1k;
- kmalloc-1k has 32 objects/slab -> array is 32*16 == 512 bytes,
served from kmalloc-512.
A kmalloc-512 slab and a kmalloc-1k slab therefore hold each other's
obj_exts array. Discarding one frees the other's array, which empties
and discards that slab, which frees the first's array, and so on:
__free_slab() -> free_slab_obj_exts() -> kfree() -> discard_slab() ->
__free_slab() recurses along the cycle until the stack is exhausted.
With memory allocation profiling, this allows unbounded recursion
in the free path and led to a stack overflow on a production host in
the Meta fleet [1]:
BUG: TASK stack guard page was hit
Oops: stack guard page
RIP: 0010:kfree+0x8/0x5d0
Call Trace:
__free_slab+0x66/0xc0
kfree+0x3f0/0x5d0
... ( ~125x __free_slab <-> kfree ) ...
<kernel driver freeing a resource>
do_syscall_64
It is proposed [1] to resolve this issue by always serving the obj_exts
array allocation from kmalloc caches (or large kmalloc) of sizes larger
than the object size. However, as pointed out by Vlastimil Babka [2],
this can waste an excessive amount of memory as slabs from large
kmalloc sizes (e.g. kmalloc-8k) generally need obj_exts arrays much
smaller than the object size.
Therefore, rather than bumping the size, let us take a different
approach; disallow formation of cycles between kmalloc types when
allocating obj_exts arrays. Currently, all obj_exts arrays are served
from normal kmalloc caches. Cycles cannot be created if obj_exts arrays
of normal kmalloc caches are served from a special kmalloc type that can
never have obj_exts arrays.
To achieve this, create a new kmalloc type called KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT.
KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT caches are created when CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT is
enabled, and they have SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT flag to prevent allocation
of obj_exts arrays. They remain unused until allocation of obj_exts
arrays for normal kmalloc caches happens.
Sheaf bootstrapping for KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT caches now must be deferred
because allocation of a barn can trigger obj_exts array allocation of
normal kmalloc caches when the KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT cache for that size
is not ready yet. For simplicity, perform bootstrapping of sheaves for
all kmalloc caches later.
Introduce a new slab alloc flag, SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT, to prevent
allocation of obj_exts arrays, and let kmalloc_slab() override the type
to KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT when specified. Note that kmalloc_type() remains
unchanged because kmalloc_flags() bypasses the kmalloc fastpath.
Do not pass SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE to kmalloc_flags() in
alloc_slab_obj_exts() and instead use SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT only when
the objects are allocated from normal kmalloc caches. While this
prevents unbounded recursive allocation of obj_exts, it allows
KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT caches to have sheaves.
Since sheaf allocations specify SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE that prevents
allocation of both sheaves and obj_exts arrays, the recursion depth
is bounded.
obj_exts arrays for non-kmalloc-normal caches can now have a valid tag.
Do not call mark_obj_codetag_empty() when freeing an obj_exts array to
avoid false warnings. KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT don't need this as they never
allocate those arrays.
Reported-by: Danielle Costantino <dcostantino@meta.com>
Reported-by: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20260625230029.703750-1-shakeel.butt@linux.dev [1]
Fixes: 4b8736964640 ("mm/slab: add allocation accounting into slab allocation and free paths")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/c5c4208d-a6f0-413e-bad9-49be12f12d55@kernel.org [2]
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo (Oracle) <harry@kernel.org>
---
include/linux/slab.h | 3 ++
mm/slab.h | 15 +++++++--
mm/slab_common.c | 18 ++++++++++-
mm/slub.c | 90 +++++++++++++++++++---------------------------------
4 files changed, 64 insertions(+), 62 deletions(-)
diff --git a/include/linux/slab.h b/include/linux/slab.h
index 08d7b6c9c4d6..0c1d13773523 100644
--- a/include/linux/slab.h
+++ b/include/linux/slab.h
@@ -721,6 +721,9 @@ enum kmalloc_cache_type {
#endif
#ifdef CONFIG_MEMCG
KMALLOC_CGROUP,
+#endif
+#ifdef CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT
+ KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT,
#endif
NR_KMALLOC_TYPES
};
diff --git a/mm/slab.h b/mm/slab.h
index 281a65233795..7bce162699b7 100644
--- a/mm/slab.h
+++ b/mm/slab.h
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
#define SLAB_ALLOC_NOLOCK 0x01 /* a kmalloc_nolock() allocation */
#define SLAB_ALLOC_NEW_SLAB 0x02 /* a flag for alloc_slab_obj_exts() */
#define SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE 0x04 /* prevent kmalloc() recursion */
+#define SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT 0x08 /* prevent obj_exts array allocation */
static inline bool alloc_flags_allow_spinning(const unsigned int alloc_flags)
{
@@ -386,12 +387,19 @@ static inline unsigned int size_index_elem(unsigned int bytes)
* KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE and the caller must check that.
*/
static inline struct kmem_cache *
-kmalloc_slab(size_t size, kmem_buckets *b, gfp_t flags, kmalloc_token_t token)
+kmalloc_slab(size_t size, kmem_buckets *b, gfp_t flags, kmalloc_token_t token,
+ unsigned int alloc_flags)
{
unsigned int index;
+ enum kmalloc_cache_type type = kmalloc_type(flags, token);
+
+#ifdef CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT
+ if (alloc_flags & SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT)
+ type = KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT;
+#endif
if (!b)
- b = &kmalloc_caches[kmalloc_type(flags, token)];
+ b = &kmalloc_caches[type];
if (size <= 192)
index = kmalloc_size_index[size_index_elem(size)];
else
@@ -426,7 +434,8 @@ static inline bool is_kmalloc_normal(struct kmem_cache *s)
{
if (!is_kmalloc_cache(s))
return false;
- return !(s->flags & (SLAB_CACHE_DMA|SLAB_ACCOUNT|SLAB_RECLAIM_ACCOUNT));
+
+ return !(s->flags & (SLAB_CACHE_DMA|SLAB_ACCOUNT|SLAB_RECLAIM_ACCOUNT|SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT));
}
bool __kfree_rcu_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, void *obj);
diff --git a/mm/slab_common.c b/mm/slab_common.c
index b6426d7ceec9..7f262134d0f2 100644
--- a/mm/slab_common.c
+++ b/mm/slab_common.c
@@ -783,11 +783,15 @@ u8 kmalloc_size_index[24] __ro_after_init = {
size_t kmalloc_size_roundup(size_t size)
{
if (size && size <= KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE) {
+ struct kmem_cache *s;
+
/*
* The flags don't matter since size_index is common to all.
* Neither does the caller for just getting ->object_size.
*/
- return kmalloc_slab(size, NULL, GFP_KERNEL, __kmalloc_token(0))->object_size;
+ s = kmalloc_slab(size, NULL, GFP_KERNEL, __kmalloc_token(0),
+ SLAB_ALLOC_DEFAULT);
+ return s->object_size;
}
/* Above the smaller buckets, size is a multiple of page size. */
@@ -843,6 +847,12 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(kmalloc_size_roundup);
#define KMALLOC_PARTITION_NAME(N, sz)
#endif
+#ifdef CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT
+#define KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT_NAME(sz) .name[KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT] = "kmalloc-no-objext-" #sz,
+#else
+#define KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT_NAME(sz)
+#endif
+
#define INIT_KMALLOC_INFO(__size, __short_size) \
{ \
.name[KMALLOC_NORMAL] = "kmalloc-" #__short_size, \
@@ -850,6 +860,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(kmalloc_size_roundup);
KMALLOC_CGROUP_NAME(__short_size) \
KMALLOC_DMA_NAME(__short_size) \
KMALLOC_PARTITION_NAME(KMALLOC_PARTITION_CACHES_NR, __short_size) \
+ KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT_NAME(__short_size) \
.size = __size, \
}
@@ -966,6 +977,11 @@ new_kmalloc_cache(int idx, enum kmalloc_cache_type type)
flags |= SLAB_NO_MERGE;
#endif
+#ifdef CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT
+ if (type == KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT)
+ flags |= SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT | SLAB_NO_MERGE;
+#endif
+
/*
* If CONFIG_MEMCG is enabled, disable cache merging for
* KMALLOC_NORMAL caches.
diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
index abe748b7dddb..0337e60db5ac 100644
--- a/mm/slub.c
+++ b/mm/slub.c
@@ -2123,42 +2123,6 @@ static inline void init_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab)
slab->obj_exts = 0;
}
-/*
- * Calculate the allocation size for slabobj_ext array.
- *
- * When memory allocation profiling is enabled, the obj_exts array
- * could be allocated from the same slab cache it's being allocated for.
- * This would prevent the slab from ever being freed because it would
- * always contain at least one allocated object (its own obj_exts array).
- *
- * To avoid this, increase the allocation size when we detect the array
- * may come from the same cache, forcing it to use a different cache.
- */
-static inline size_t obj_exts_alloc_size(struct kmem_cache *s,
- struct slab *slab, gfp_t gfp)
-{
- size_t sz = sizeof(struct slabobj_ext) * slab->objects;
- struct kmem_cache *obj_exts_cache;
-
- if (sz > KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE)
- return sz;
-
- if (!is_kmalloc_normal(s))
- return sz;
-
- obj_exts_cache = kmalloc_slab(sz, NULL, gfp, __kmalloc_token(0));
- /*
- * We can't simply compare s with obj_exts_cache, because partitioned kmalloc
- * caches have multiple caches per size, selected by caller address or type.
- * Since caller address or type may differ between kmalloc_slab() and actual
- * allocation, bump size when sizes are equal.
- */
- if (s->object_size == obj_exts_cache->object_size)
- return obj_exts_cache->object_size + 1;
-
- return sz;
-}
-
int alloc_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab, struct kmem_cache *s,
gfp_t gfp, unsigned int alloc_flags)
{
@@ -2168,14 +2132,18 @@ int alloc_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab, struct kmem_cache *s,
unsigned long new_exts;
unsigned long old_exts;
struct slabobj_ext *vec;
- size_t sz;
+ size_t sz = sizeof(struct slabobj_ext) * slab->objects;
gfp &= ~OBJCGS_CLEAR_MASK;
- /* Prevent recursive extension vector allocation */
- alloc_flags |= SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE;
- alloc_flags &= ~SLAB_ALLOC_NEW_SLAB;
+ /*
+ * In most cases, obj_exts arrays are allocated from normal kmalloc.
+ * However, normal kmalloc caches must allocate them from
+ * KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT caches to prevent recursion.
+ */
+ if (is_kmalloc_normal(s))
+ alloc_flags |= SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT;
- sz = obj_exts_alloc_size(s, slab, gfp);
+ alloc_flags &= ~SLAB_ALLOC_NEW_SLAB;
/* This will use kmalloc_nolock() if alloc_flags say so */
vec = kmalloc_flags(sz, gfp | __GFP_ZERO, alloc_flags, slab_nid(slab));
@@ -2193,8 +2161,21 @@ int alloc_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab, struct kmem_cache *s,
return -ENOMEM;
}
- VM_WARN_ON_ONCE(virt_to_slab(vec) != NULL &&
- virt_to_slab(vec)->slab_cache == s);
+ if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_DEBUG_VM)) {
+ struct kmem_cache *exts_cache;
+ struct slab *exts_slab;
+
+ exts_slab = virt_to_slab(vec);
+ if (exts_slab) {
+ /*
+ * The vector must be allocated from either normal or
+ * KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT kmalloc caches to avoid cycles.
+ */
+ exts_cache = exts_slab->slab_cache;
+ WARN_ON_ONCE(!is_kmalloc_normal(exts_cache) &&
+ !(exts_cache->flags & SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT));
+ }
+ }
new_exts = (unsigned long)vec;
#ifdef CONFIG_MEMCG
@@ -2217,7 +2198,6 @@ int alloc_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab, struct kmem_cache *s,
* assign slabobj_exts in parallel. In this case the existing
* objcg vector should be reused.
*/
- mark_obj_codetag_empty(vec);
if (unlikely(!allow_spin))
kfree_nolock(vec);
else
@@ -2253,14 +2233,6 @@ static inline void free_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab, bool allow_spin)
return;
}
- /*
- * obj_exts was created with SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE flag, therefore its
- * corresponding extension will be NULL. alloc_tag_sub() will throw a
- * warning if slab has extensions but the extension of an object is
- * NULL, therefore replace NULL with CODETAG_EMPTY to indicate that
- * the extension for obj_exts is expected to be NULL.
- */
- mark_obj_codetag_empty(obj_exts);
if (allow_spin)
kfree(obj_exts);
else
@@ -5356,7 +5328,7 @@ void *__do_kmalloc_node(kmem_buckets *b, gfp_t flags, int node,
if (unlikely(!size))
return ZERO_SIZE_PTR;
- s = kmalloc_slab(size, b, flags, token);
+ s = kmalloc_slab(size, b, flags, token, ac->alloc_flags);
ret = slab_alloc_node(s, flags, node, ac);
ret = kasan_kmalloc(s, ret, size, flags);
@@ -5419,7 +5391,9 @@ static void *__kmalloc_nolock_noprof(DECL_TOKEN_PARAMS(size, token), gfp_t gfp_f
retry:
if (unlikely(size > KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE))
return NULL;
- s = kmalloc_slab(size, NULL, gfp_flags, PASS_TOKEN_PARAM(token));
+
+ s = kmalloc_slab(size, NULL, gfp_flags, PASS_TOKEN_PARAM(token),
+ ac->alloc_flags);
if (!(s->flags & __CMPXCHG_DOUBLE) && !kmem_cache_debug(s))
/*
@@ -7979,10 +7953,10 @@ static int calculate_sizes(struct kmem_cache_args *args, struct kmem_cache *s)
s->allocflags |= __GFP_RECLAIMABLE;
/*
- * For KMALLOC_NORMAL caches we enable sheaves later by
- * bootstrap_kmalloc_sheaves() to avoid recursion
+ * For kmalloc caches we enable sheaves later by
+ * bootstrap_kmalloc_sheaves() to avoid recursion.
*/
- if (!is_kmalloc_normal(s))
+ if (!is_kmalloc_cache(s))
s->sheaf_capacity = calculate_sheaf_capacity(s, args);
/*
@@ -8548,7 +8522,7 @@ static void __init bootstrap_kmalloc_sheaves(void)
{
enum kmalloc_cache_type type;
- for (type = KMALLOC_NORMAL; type <= KMALLOC_PARTITION_END; type++) {
+ for (type = KMALLOC_NORMAL; type < NR_KMALLOC_TYPES; type++) {
for (int idx = 0; idx < KMALLOC_SHIFT_HIGH + 1; idx++) {
struct kmem_cache *s = kmalloc_caches[type][idx];
--
2.53.0
^ permalink raw reply related [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling
2026-07-10 6:03 [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling Harry Yoo (Oracle)
` (2 preceding siblings ...)
2026-07-10 6:03 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 3/3] mm/slab: prevent unbounded recursion in free path with new kmalloc type Harry Yoo (Oracle)
@ 2026-07-10 13:07 ` Vlastimil Babka (SUSE)
2026-07-10 13:44 ` Harry Yoo
3 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) @ 2026-07-10 13:07 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Harry Yoo (Oracle), Andrew Morton, Hao Li, Christoph Lameter,
David Rientjes, Roman Gushchin, Suren Baghdasaryan, Hao Ge,
Kees Cook, Pedro Falcato, Shakeel Butt, Danielle Constantino,
Liam R. Howlett
Cc: linux-mm, linux-kernel
On 7/10/26 08:03, Harry Yoo (Oracle) wrote:
> This is a follow-up fix after the recent discussion [1].
> See patch 2 for the detailed description on the bug.
>
> Based on slab/for-next-fixes (72bb229f916) and will be soon available
> at git.kernel.org [2].
>
> Instead preventing cycles by bumping up the allocation size of obj_exts
> arrays, it introduces a new kmalloc type called KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT and
> disallow formation of cycles between kmalloc types when allocating
> obj_exts arrays. obj_exts arrays of normal kmalloc caches are served
> from KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT caches (that don't have obj_exts), and all other
> obj_exts arrays are served from normal kmalloc caches.
Since we agreed to investigate later whether it makes sense to start
allocating all obj_ext allocations from the new type, I wonder if for now we
should not create them at all if they won't be used - if anything to avoid
polluting slabinfo. AFAIU that means only create them with mem alloc
profiling is config-enabled and mem_profiling_support == true?
(Or probably also with SLUB_TINY && MEMCG, as nonsensical as it is...)
> I tried to reuse SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE to make kmalloc_slab() select
> KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT, but it was not great because it does not allow
> sheaves for those caches. So I introduced a new slab alloc flag
> SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT.
>
> To avoid huge confusion, I had to decouple "disallowing sheaves"
> semantics from SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT and introduced SLAB_NO_SHEAVES.
>
> While this cannot be directly backported to v6.18 and v6.12 due to lack
> of SLAB_ALLOC_* flags and kmalloc_flags(), I don't this will be
> particularily challenging to backport it. Instead of a new slab alloc
> flag, we can use __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT to select KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT as
> kmalloc caches don't have sheaves in v6.18 anyway.
>
> [1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/9a139365-28e6-4f1e-b35b-7f6091e9aa14@kernel.org
>
> [2] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/harry/linux.git/log/?h=kmalloc-no-objext-v2r2
>
> [ "v2r2" because after exposing v2r1 I adjusted some of Vlastimil's
> feedback and fixed a memory leak due to bootstrapping twice when
> kmalloc caches are aliased ]
>
> Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo (Oracle) <harry@kernel.org>
> ---
> Changes in v2:
> - Fix a memory leak when kmalloc caches are aliased (patch 1).
> This is included as part of this series as patch 3 makes it
> easier to trigger the leak.
>
> - Fix a warning in MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING_DEBUG by dropping
> mark_obj_codetag_empty() for obj_exts. Sashiko raised this and
> I reproduced it and confirmed that the warnings are gone.
> https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260702-kmalloc-no-objext-v1-0-167175008538%40kernel.org
>
> - Added R-b from Vlastimil on patch 2, thanks!
> - Adjusted Vlastimil's feedback on RFC v1
> - Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260702-kmalloc-no-objext-v1-0-167175008538@kernel.org
>
> ---
> Harry Yoo (Oracle) (3):
> mm/slab: fix a memory leak due to bootstrapping sheaves twice
> mm/slab: decouple SLAB_NO_SHEAVES from SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT
> mm/slab: prevent unbounded recursion in free path with new kmalloc type
>
> include/linux/slab.h | 16 +++++++-
> mm/slab.h | 15 +++++--
> mm/slab_common.c | 18 ++++++++-
> mm/slub.c | 109 +++++++++++++++++++++------------------------------
> 4 files changed, 88 insertions(+), 70 deletions(-)
> ---
> base-commit: 72bb229f9161a1efcd5df32141b69fcc6ae81a13
> change-id: 20260702-kmalloc-no-objext-2619c1e06083
>
> Best regards,
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling
2026-07-10 13:07 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling Vlastimil Babka (SUSE)
@ 2026-07-10 13:44 ` Harry Yoo
0 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Harry Yoo @ 2026-07-10 13:44 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE), Andrew Morton, Hao Li, Christoph Lameter,
David Rientjes, Roman Gushchin, Suren Baghdasaryan, Hao Ge,
Kees Cook, Pedro Falcato, Shakeel Butt, Danielle Constantino,
Liam R. Howlett
Cc: linux-mm, linux-kernel
[-- Attachment #1.1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1569 bytes --]
On 7/10/26 10:07 PM, Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) wrote:
> On 7/10/26 08:03, Harry Yoo (Oracle) wrote:
>> This is a follow-up fix after the recent discussion [1].
>> See patch 2 for the detailed description on the bug.
>>
>> Based on slab/for-next-fixes (72bb229f916) and will be soon available
>> at git.kernel.org [2].
>>
>> Instead preventing cycles by bumping up the allocation size of obj_exts
>> arrays, it introduces a new kmalloc type called KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT and
>> disallow formation of cycles between kmalloc types when allocating
>> obj_exts arrays. obj_exts arrays of normal kmalloc caches are served
>> from KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT caches (that don't have obj_exts), and all other
>> obj_exts arrays are served from normal kmalloc caches.
>
> Since we agreed to investigate later whether it makes sense to start
> allocating all obj_ext allocations from the new type, I wonder if for now we
> should not create them at all if they won't be used - if anything to avoid
> polluting slabinfo.
That's fair point!
> AFAIU that means only create them with mem alloc
> profiling is config-enabled and mem_profiling_support == true?
assuming mem_profiling_support == true means not "never"...
> (Or probably also with SLUB_TINY && MEMCG, as nonsensical as it is...)
I'll instead check "is any kmalloc type w/ higher priority than
KMALLOC_CGROUP aliased with KMALLOC_NORMAL?", which would be
IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_MEMCG) &&
(KMALLOC_DMA == KMALLOC_NORMAL || KMALLOC_RECLAIM == KMALLOC_NORMAL),
--
Cheers,
Harry / Hyeonggon
[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 228 bytes --]
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
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2026-07-10 6:03 [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 6:03 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 1/3] mm/slab: fix a memory leak due to bootstrapping sheaves twice Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 6:03 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 2/3] mm/slab: decouple SLAB_NO_SHEAVES from SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 6:03 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 3/3] mm/slab: prevent unbounded recursion in free path with new kmalloc type Harry Yoo (Oracle)
2026-07-10 13:07 ` [PATCH slab/for-next-fixes v2 0/3] mm/slab: fix unbounded recursion in free path with memalloc profiling Vlastimil Babka (SUSE)
2026-07-10 13:44 ` Harry Yoo
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