Re: [PATCH RFC tip/core/rcu 11/20] rcu: fix race condition in synchronize_sched_expedited()

[Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>]

Hello,

On 12/17/2010 09:54 PM, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> The new (early 2010) implementation of synchronize_sched_expedited() uses
> try_stop_cpu() to force a context switch on every CPU.  It also permits
> concurrent calls to synchronize_sched_expedited() to share a single call
> to try_stop_cpu() through use of an atomically incremented
> synchronize_sched_expedited_count variable.  Unfortunately, this is
> subject to failure as follows:
> 
> o	Task A invokes synchronize_sched_expedited(), try_stop_cpus()
> 	succeeds, but Task A is preempted before getting to the atomic
> 	increment of synchronize_sched_expedited_count.
> 
> o	Task B also invokes synchronize_sched_expedited(), with exactly
> 	the same outcome as Task A.
> 
> o	Task C also invokes synchronize_sched_expedited(), again with
> 	exactly the same outcome as Tasks A and B.
> 
> o	Task D also invokes synchronize_sched_expedited(), but only
> 	gets as far as acquiring the mutex within try_stop_cpus()
> 	before being preempted, interrupted, or otherwise delayed.
> 
> o	Task E also invokes synchronize_sched_expedited(), but only
> 	gets to the snapshotting of synchronize_sched_expedited_count.
> 
> o	Tasks A, B, and C all increment synchronize_sched_expedited_count.
> 
> o	Task E fails to get the mutex, so checks the new value
> 	of synchronize_sched_expedited_count.  It finds that the
> 	value has increased, so (wrongly) assumes that its work
> 	has been done, returning despite there having been no
> 	expedited grace period since it began.
> 
> The solution is to have the lowest-numbered CPU atomically increment
> the synchronize_sched_expedited_count variable within the
> synchronize_sched_expedited_cpu_stop() function, which is under
> the protection of the mutex acquired by try_stop_cpus().  However, this
> also requires that piggybacking tasks wait for three rather than two
> instances of try_stop_cpu(), because we cannot control the order in
> which the per-CPU callback function occur.
> 
> Cc: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
> Cc: Lai Jiangshan <laijs@cn.fujitsu.com>
> Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>

Acked-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>

I suppose this should go -stable?

-- 
tejun