[PATCH v3] audit: merge loops in __audit_inode_child()

[PATCH v3] audit: merge loops in __audit_inode_child()

[Ricardo Robaina]

Whenever there's audit context, __audit_inode_child() gets called
numerous times, which can lead to high latency in scenarios that
create too many sysfs/debugfs entries at once, for instance, upon
device_add_disk() invocation.

   # uname -r
   6.18.0-rc2+

   # auditctl -a always,exit -F path=/tmp -k foo
   # time insmod loop max_loop=1000
   real 0m46.676s
   user 0m0.000s
   sys 0m46.405s

   # perf record -a insmod loop max_loop=1000
   # perf report --stdio |grep __audit_inode_child
   32.73%  insmod [kernel.kallsyms] [k] __audit_inode_child

__audit_inode_child() searches for both the parent and the child
in two different loops that iterate over the same list. This
process can be optimized by merging these into a single loop,
without changing the function behavior or affecting the code's
readability.

This patch merges the two loops that walk through the list
context->names_list into a single loop. This optimization resulted
in around 51% performance enhancement for the benchmark.

   # uname -r
   6.18.0-rc2-enhancedv3+

   # auditctl -a always,exit -F path=/tmp -k foo
   # time insmod loop max_loop=1000
   real 0m22.899s
   user 0m0.001s
   sys 0m22.652s

Signed-off-by: Ricardo Robaina <rrobaina@redhat.com>
---
 kernel/auditsc.c | 43 +++++++++++++++++++------------------------
 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/auditsc.c b/kernel/auditsc.c
index d1966144bdfe..dd0563a8e0be 100644
--- a/kernel/auditsc.c
+++ b/kernel/auditsc.c
@@ -2416,41 +2416,36 @@ void __audit_inode_child(struct inode *parent,
 	if (inode)
 		handle_one(inode);
 
-	/* look for a parent entry first */
 	list_for_each_entry(n, &context->names_list, list) {
-		if (!n->name ||
-		    (n->type != AUDIT_TYPE_PARENT &&
-		     n->type != AUDIT_TYPE_UNKNOWN))
+		/* can only match entries that have a name */
+		if (!n->name)
 			continue;
 
-		if (n->ino == parent->i_ino && n->dev == parent->i_sb->s_dev &&
-		    !audit_compare_dname_path(dname,
-					      n->name->name, n->name_len)) {
-			if (n->type == AUDIT_TYPE_UNKNOWN)
-				n->type = AUDIT_TYPE_PARENT;
+		/* look for a parent entry first */
+		if (!found_parent &&
+		    (n->type == AUDIT_TYPE_PARENT || n->type == AUDIT_TYPE_UNKNOWN) &&
+		    (n->ino == parent->i_ino && n->dev == parent->i_sb->s_dev &&
+		     !audit_compare_dname_path(dname, n->name->name, n->name_len))) {
+			n->type = AUDIT_TYPE_PARENT;
 			found_parent = n;
-			break;
-		}
-	}
-
-	cond_resched();
-
-	/* is there a matching child entry? */
-	list_for_each_entry(n, &context->names_list, list) {
-		/* can only match entries that have a name */
-		if (!n->name ||
-		    (n->type != type && n->type != AUDIT_TYPE_UNKNOWN))
+			if (found_child)
+				break;
 			continue;
+		}
 
-		if (!strcmp(dname->name, n->name->name) ||
-		    !audit_compare_dname_path(dname, n->name->name,
+		/* is there a matching child entry? */
+		if (!found_child &&
+		    (n->type == type || n->type == AUDIT_TYPE_UNKNOWN) &&
+		    (!strcmp(dname->name, n->name->name) ||
+		     !audit_compare_dname_path(dname, n->name->name,
 						found_parent ?
 						found_parent->name_len :
-						AUDIT_NAME_FULL)) {
+						AUDIT_NAME_FULL))) {
 			if (n->type == AUDIT_TYPE_UNKNOWN)
 				n->type = type;
 			found_child = n;
-			break;
+			if (found_parent)
+				break;
 		}
 	}
 
-- 
2.51.0

Re: [PATCH v3] audit: merge loops in __audit_inode_child()

[Paul Moore]

On Oct 31, 2025 Ricardo Robaina <rrobaina@redhat.com> wrote:
> 
> Whenever there's audit context, __audit_inode_child() gets called
> numerous times, which can lead to high latency in scenarios that
> create too many sysfs/debugfs entries at once, for instance, upon
> device_add_disk() invocation.
> 
>    # uname -r
>    6.18.0-rc2+
> 
>    # auditctl -a always,exit -F path=/tmp -k foo
>    # time insmod loop max_loop=1000
>    real 0m46.676s
>    user 0m0.000s
>    sys 0m46.405s
> 
>    # perf record -a insmod loop max_loop=1000
>    # perf report --stdio |grep __audit_inode_child
>    32.73%  insmod [kernel.kallsyms] [k] __audit_inode_child
> 
> __audit_inode_child() searches for both the parent and the child
> in two different loops that iterate over the same list. This
> process can be optimized by merging these into a single loop,
> without changing the function behavior or affecting the code's
> readability.
> 
> This patch merges the two loops that walk through the list
> context->names_list into a single loop. This optimization resulted
> in around 51% performance enhancement for the benchmark.
> 
>    # uname -r
>    6.18.0-rc2-enhancedv3+
> 
>    # auditctl -a always,exit -F path=/tmp -k foo
>    # time insmod loop max_loop=1000
>    real 0m22.899s
>    user 0m0.001s
>    sys 0m22.652s
> 
> Signed-off-by: Ricardo Robaina <rrobaina@redhat.com>
> ---
>  kernel/auditsc.c | 43 +++++++++++++++++++------------------------
>  1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)

Looks good to me, merged into audit/dev, thanks!

--
paul-moore.com

Re: [PATCH v3] audit: merge loops in __audit_inode_child()

[Ricardo Robaina]

Thanks, Paul!

On Fri, Nov 7, 2025 at 6:50 PM Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> wrote:
>
> On Oct 31, 2025 Ricardo Robaina <rrobaina@redhat.com> wrote:
> >
> > Whenever there's audit context, __audit_inode_child() gets called
> > numerous times, which can lead to high latency in scenarios that
> > create too many sysfs/debugfs entries at once, for instance, upon
> > device_add_disk() invocation.
> >
> >    # uname -r
> >    6.18.0-rc2+
> >
> >    # auditctl -a always,exit -F path=/tmp -k foo
> >    # time insmod loop max_loop=1000
> >    real 0m46.676s
> >    user 0m0.000s
> >    sys 0m46.405s
> >
> >    # perf record -a insmod loop max_loop=1000
> >    # perf report --stdio |grep __audit_inode_child
> >    32.73%  insmod [kernel.kallsyms] [k] __audit_inode_child
> >
> > __audit_inode_child() searches for both the parent and the child
> > in two different loops that iterate over the same list. This
> > process can be optimized by merging these into a single loop,
> > without changing the function behavior or affecting the code's
> > readability.
> >
> > This patch merges the two loops that walk through the list
> > context->names_list into a single loop. This optimization resulted
> > in around 51% performance enhancement for the benchmark.
> >
> >    # uname -r
> >    6.18.0-rc2-enhancedv3+
> >
> >    # auditctl -a always,exit -F path=/tmp -k foo
> >    # time insmod loop max_loop=1000
> >    real 0m22.899s
> >    user 0m0.001s
> >    sys 0m22.652s
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Ricardo Robaina <rrobaina@redhat.com>
> > ---
> >  kernel/auditsc.c | 43 +++++++++++++++++++------------------------
> >  1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)
>
> Looks good to me, merged into audit/dev, thanks!
>
> --
> paul-moore.com
>