[RFC PATCH v2 1/2] mm/userfaultfd: fix memory corruption due to writeprotect

Nadav Amit
2020-12-25T09:30:19Z

From: Nadav Amit <namit@vmware.com>

Userfaultfd self-test fails occasionally, indicating a memory
corruption.

Analyzing this problem indicates that there is a real bug since
mmap_lock is only taken for read in mwriteprotect_range() and defers
flushes, and since there is insufficient consideration of concurrent
deferred TLB flushes in wp_page_copy(). Although the PTE is flushed from
the TLBs in wp_page_copy(), this flush takes place after the copy has
already been performed, and therefore changes of the page are possible
between the time of the copy and the time in which the PTE is flushed.

To make matters worse, memory-unprotection using userfaultfd also poses
a problem. Although memory unprotection is logically a promotion of PTE
permissions, and therefore should not require a TLB flush, the current
userrfaultfd code might actually cause a demotion of the architectural
PTE permission: when userfaultfd_writeprotect() unprotects memory
region, it unintentionally *clears* the RW-bit if it was already set.
Note that this unprotecting a PTE that is not write-protected is a valid
use-case: the userfaultfd monitor might ask to unprotect a region that
holds both write-protected and write-unprotected PTEs.

The scenario that happens in selftests/vm/userfaultfd is as follows:

cpu0 cpu1 cpu2
---- ---- ----
[ Writable PTE
cached in TLB ]
userfaultfd_writeprotect()
[ write-*unprotect* ]
mwriteprotect_range()
mmap_read_lock()
change_protection()

change_protection_range()
...
change_pte_range()
[ *clear* “write”-bit ]
[ defer TLB flushes ]
[ page-fault ]
...
wp_page_copy()
cow_user_page()
[ copy page ]
[ write to old
page ]
...
set_pte_at_notify()

A similar scenario can happen:

cpu0 cpu1 cpu2 cpu3
---- ---- ---- ----
[ Writable PTE
cached in TLB ]
userfaultfd_writeprotect()
[ write-protect ]
[ deferred TLB flush ]
userfaultfd_writeprotect()
[ write-unprotect ]
[ deferred TLB flush]
[ page-fault ]
wp_page_copy()
cow_user_page()
[ copy page ]
... [ write to page ]
set_pte_at_notify()

As Yu Zhao pointed, these races became more apparent since commit
09854ba94c6a ("mm: do_wp_page() simplification") which made
wp_page_copy() more likely to take place, specifically if
page_count(page) > 1.

Note that one might consider additional potentially dangerous scenarios,
which are not directly related to the deferred TLB flushes. A memory
corruption might in theory occur if after the page is copied by
cow_user_page() and before the PTE is set, the PTE is write-unprotected
(by a concurrent page-fault handler) and then protected again (by
subsequent calls to userfaultfd_writeprotect() to protect and unprotect
the page). In practice, it seems that such scenarios cannot happen.

To resolve the aforementioned races, acquire mmap_lock for write when
write-protecting userfaultfd region using ioctl's. Keep acquiring
mmap_lock for read when unprotecting memory, but do not change the
write-bit set when performing userfaultfd write-unprotection.

This solution can introduce performance regression to userfaultfd
write-protection.

Cc: Andrea Arcangeli <aarcange@redhat.com>
Cc: Yu Zhao <yuzhao@google.com>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>
Cc: Peter Xu <peterx@redhat.com>
Cc: Pavel Emelyanov <xemul@openvz.org>
Cc: Mike Kravetz <mike.kravetz@oracle.com>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc: Minchan Kim <minchan@kernel.org>
Cc: Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Fixes: 292924b26024 ("userfaultfd: wp: apply _PAGE_UFFD_WP bit")
Signed-off-by: Nadav Amit <namit@vmware.com>
---
mm/mprotect.c | 3 ++-
mm/userfaultfd.c | 15 +++++++++++++--
2 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/mprotect.c b/mm/mprotect.c
index ab709023e9aa..c08c4055b051 100644
--- a/mm/mprotect.c
+++ b/mm/mprotect.c
@@ -75,7 +75,8 @@ static unsigned long change_pte_range(struct vm_area_struct *vma, pmd_t *pmd,
oldpte = *pte;
if (pte_present(oldpte)) {
pte_t ptent;
- bool preserve_write = prot_numa && pte_write(oldpte);
+ bool preserve_write = (prot_numa || uffd_wp_resolve) &&
+ pte_write(oldpte);

/*
* Avoid trapping faults against the zero or KSM
diff --git a/mm/userfaultfd.c b/mm/userfaultfd.c
index 9a3d451402d7..7423808640ef 100644
--- a/mm/userfaultfd.c
+++ b/mm/userfaultfd.c
@@ -652,7 +652,15 @@ int mwriteprotect_range(struct mm_struct *dst_mm, unsigned long start,
/* Does the address range wrap, or is the span zero-sized? */
BUG_ON(start + len <= start);

- mmap_read_lock(dst_mm);
+ /*
+ * Although we do not change the VMA, we have to ensure deferred TLB
+ * flushes are performed before page-faults can be handled. Otherwise
+ * we can get inconsistent TLB state.
+ */
+ if (enable_wp)
+ mmap_write_lock(dst_mm);
+ else
+ mmap_read_lock(dst_mm);

/*
* If memory mappings are changing because of non-cooperative
@@ -686,6 +694,9 @@ int mwriteprotect_range(struct mm_struct *dst_mm, unsigned long start,

err = 0;
out_unlock:
- mmap_read_unlock(dst_mm);
+ if (enable_wp)
+ mmap_write_unlock(dst_mm);
+ else
+ mmap_read_unlock(dst_mm);
return err;
}
--
2.25.1