Forwarded: [PATCH] mm/workingset: fix NULL pointer dereference in lru_gen_test_recent

syzbot
2025-12-07T15:38:16Z

Subject: [PATCH] mm/workingset: fix NULL pointer dereference in lru_gen_test_recent
Author: kartikey406@gmail.com

#syz test: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git master

Add NULL check for memcg in lru_gen_test_recent() to prevent crash when
mem_cgroup_from_id() returns NULL.

The crash occurs when a folio's shadow entry contains a memcg_id that
no longer maps to a valid memory cgroup. This can happen when:

1. The memory cgroup has been deleted/freed
2. A folio was created without proper memcg association (e.g., during
procmap_query build ID parsing via freader_get_folio)
3. The memcg_id in the shadow entry is invalid or zero

When lru_gen_test_recent() calls mem_cgroup_from_id(), it may return
NULL. The subsequent call to mem_cgroup_lruvec() with NULL memcg
triggers a crash.

Although mem_cgroup_lruvec() has an internal NULL check, the crash
occurs before reaching it due to compiler optimization. Since
mem_cgroup_lruvec() is an inline function, the compiler calculates
the offset memcg->nodeinfo (0x4e00) before the function's NULL check
can execute, causing a NULL pointer dereference.

Fix this by introducing an effective_memcg variable that is explicitly
set to root_mem_cgroup when memcg is NULL. This approach forces the
compiler to use a separate register/memory location, preventing the
premature offset calculation that caused the crash with a simple
in-place NULL check.

Reported-by: syzbot+e008db2ac01e282550ee@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=e008db2ac01e282550ee
Fixes: ac35a4902374 ("mm: multi-gen LRU: minimal implementation")
Signed-off-by: Deepanshu Kartikey <kartikey406@gmail.com>
---
mm/workingset.c | 6 +++++-
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/mm/workingset.c b/mm/workingset.c
index e9f05634747a..4fa33b57f0ca 100644
--- a/mm/workingset.c
+++ b/mm/workingset.c
@@ -272,7 +272,11 @@ static bool lru_gen_test_recent(void *shadow, struct lruvec **lruvec,
unpack_shadow(shadow, &memcg_id, &pgdat, token, workingset);

memcg = mem_cgroup_from_id(memcg_id);
- *lruvec = mem_cgroup_lruvec(memcg, pgdat);
+ if(unlikely(!memcg)) {
+ *lruvec = &pgdat->__lruvec;
+ } else {
+ *lruvec = mem_cgroup_lruvec(memcg, pgdat);
+ }

max_seq = READ_ONCE((*lruvec)->lrugen.max_seq);
max_seq &= EVICTION_MASK >> LRU_REFS_WIDTH;
--
2.43.0