[PATCH] sched_ext: Fix scx_enable() crash on helper kthread creation failure

[PATCH] sched_ext: Fix scx_enable() crash on helper kthread creation failure

[Saket Kumar Bhaskar]

A crash was observed when the sched_ext selftests runner was
terminated with Ctrl+\ while test 15 was running:

NIP [c00000000028fa58] scx_enable.constprop.0+0x358/0x12b0
LR [c00000000028fa2c] scx_enable.constprop.0+0x32c/0x12b0
Call Trace:
scx_enable.constprop.0+0x32c/0x12b0 (unreliable)
bpf_struct_ops_link_create+0x18c/0x22c
__sys_bpf+0x23f8/0x3044
sys_bpf+0x2c/0x6c
system_call_exception+0x124/0x320
system_call_vectored_common+0x15c/0x2ec

kthread_run_worker() returns an ERR_PTR() on failure rather than NULL,
but the current code in scx_alloc_and_add_sched() only checks for a NULL
helper. Incase of failure on SIGQUIT, the error is not handled in
scx_alloc_and_add_sched() and scx_enable() ends up dereferencing an
error pointer.

Error handling is fixed in scx_alloc_and_add_sched() to propagate
PTR_ERR() into ret, so that scx_enable() jumps to the existing error
path, avoiding random dereference on failure.

Fixes: bff3b5aec1b7 ("sched_ext: Move disable machinery into scx_sched")
Reported-by: Samir Mulani <samir@linux.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Saket Kumar Bhaskar <skb99@linux.ibm.com>
---
 kernel/sched/ext.c | 5 ++++-
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/kernel/sched/ext.c b/kernel/sched/ext.c
index 2b0e88206d07..7fc0cce68a1b 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/ext.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/ext.c
@@ -4392,8 +4392,11 @@ static struct scx_sched *scx_alloc_and_add_sched(struct sched_ext_ops *ops)
 		goto err_free_gdsqs;
 
 	sch->helper = kthread_run_worker(0, "sched_ext_helper");
-	if (!sch->helper)
+	if (IS_ERR(sch->helper)) {
+		ret = PTR_ERR(sch->helper);
 		goto err_free_pcpu;
+	}
+
 	sched_set_fifo(sch->helper->task);
 
 	atomic_set(&sch->exit_kind, SCX_EXIT_NONE);
-- 
2.51.0

Re: [PATCH] sched_ext: Fix scx_enable() crash on helper kthread creation failure

[Andrea Righi]

On Wed, Nov 19, 2025 at 04:07:22PM +0530, Saket Kumar Bhaskar wrote:
> A crash was observed when the sched_ext selftests runner was
> terminated with Ctrl+\ while test 15 was running:
> 
> NIP [c00000000028fa58] scx_enable.constprop.0+0x358/0x12b0
> LR [c00000000028fa2c] scx_enable.constprop.0+0x32c/0x12b0
> Call Trace:
> scx_enable.constprop.0+0x32c/0x12b0 (unreliable)
> bpf_struct_ops_link_create+0x18c/0x22c
> __sys_bpf+0x23f8/0x3044
> sys_bpf+0x2c/0x6c
> system_call_exception+0x124/0x320
> system_call_vectored_common+0x15c/0x2ec
> 
> kthread_run_worker() returns an ERR_PTR() on failure rather than NULL,
> but the current code in scx_alloc_and_add_sched() only checks for a NULL
> helper. Incase of failure on SIGQUIT, the error is not handled in
> scx_alloc_and_add_sched() and scx_enable() ends up dereferencing an
> error pointer.
> 
> Error handling is fixed in scx_alloc_and_add_sched() to propagate
> PTR_ERR() into ret, so that scx_enable() jumps to the existing error
> path, avoiding random dereference on failure.
> 
> Fixes: bff3b5aec1b7 ("sched_ext: Move disable machinery into scx_sched")
> Reported-by: Samir Mulani <samir@linux.ibm.com>
> Signed-off-by: Saket Kumar Bhaskar <skb99@linux.ibm.com>

Good catch, makes sense to me.

Reviewed-by: Andrea Righi <arighi@nvidia.com>

Thanks,
-Andrea

> ---
>  kernel/sched/ext.c | 5 ++++-
>  1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/kernel/sched/ext.c b/kernel/sched/ext.c
> index 2b0e88206d07..7fc0cce68a1b 100644
> --- a/kernel/sched/ext.c
> +++ b/kernel/sched/ext.c
> @@ -4392,8 +4392,11 @@ static struct scx_sched *scx_alloc_and_add_sched(struct sched_ext_ops *ops)
>  		goto err_free_gdsqs;
>  
>  	sch->helper = kthread_run_worker(0, "sched_ext_helper");
> -	if (!sch->helper)
> +	if (IS_ERR(sch->helper)) {
> +		ret = PTR_ERR(sch->helper);
>  		goto err_free_pcpu;
> +	}
> +
>  	sched_set_fifo(sch->helper->task);
>  
>  	atomic_set(&sch->exit_kind, SCX_EXIT_NONE);
> -- 
> 2.51.0
> 

Re: [PATCH] sched_ext: Fix scx_enable() crash on helper kthread creation failure

[Emil Tsalapatis]

________________________________________
From: Saket Kumar Bhaskar <skb99@linux.ibm.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2025 5:37 AM
To: sched-ext@lists.linux.dev; linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Cc: hbathini@linux.ibm.com; samir@linux.ibm.com; sachinpb@linux.ibm.com; tj@kernel.org; void@manifault.com; arighi@nvidia.com; changwoo@igalia.com; mingo@redhat.com; peterz@infradead.org; juri.lelli@redhat.com; vincent.guittot@linaro.org; dietmar.eggemann@arm.com; rostedt@goodmis.org; bsegall@google.com; mgorman@suse.de; vschneid@redhat.com
Subject: [PATCH] sched_ext: Fix scx_enable() crash on helper kthread creation failure

A crash was observed when the sched_ext selftests runner was
terminated with Ctrl+\ while test 15 was running:

NIP [c00000000028fa58] scx_enable.constprop.0+0x358/0x12b0
LR [c00000000028fa2c] scx_enable.constprop.0+0x32c/0x12b0
Call Trace:
scx_enable.constprop.0+0x32c/0x12b0 (unreliable)
bpf_struct_ops_link_create+0x18c/0x22c
__sys_bpf+0x23f8/0x3044
sys_bpf+0x2c/0x6c
system_call_exception+0x124/0x320
system_call_vectored_common+0x15c/0x2ec

kthread_run_worker() returns an ERR_PTR() on failure rather than NULL,
but the current code in scx_alloc_and_add_sched() only checks for a NULL
helper. Incase of failure on SIGQUIT, the error is not handled in
scx_alloc_and_add_sched() and scx_enable() ends up dereferencing an
error pointer.

Error handling is fixed in scx_alloc_and_add_sched() to propagate
PTR_ERR() into ret, so that scx_enable() jumps to the existing error
path, avoiding random dereference on failure.

Fixes: bff3b5aec1b7 ("sched_ext: Move disable machinery into scx_sched")
Reported-by: Samir Mulani <samir@linux.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Saket Kumar Bhaskar <skb99@linux.ibm.com>
---
 kernel/sched/ext.c | 5 ++++-
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

Reviewed-by: Emil Tsalapatis <emil@etsalapatis.com>

Re: [PATCH] sched_ext: Fix scx_enable() crash on helper kthread creation failure

[Samir M]

On 19/11/25 4:07 pm, Saket Kumar Bhaskar wrote:
> A crash was observed when the sched_ext selftests runner was
> terminated with Ctrl+\ while test 15 was running:
>
> NIP [c00000000028fa58] scx_enable.constprop.0+0x358/0x12b0
> LR [c00000000028fa2c] scx_enable.constprop.0+0x32c/0x12b0
> Call Trace:
> scx_enable.constprop.0+0x32c/0x12b0 (unreliable)
> bpf_struct_ops_link_create+0x18c/0x22c
> __sys_bpf+0x23f8/0x3044
> sys_bpf+0x2c/0x6c
> system_call_exception+0x124/0x320
> system_call_vectored_common+0x15c/0x2ec
>
> kthread_run_worker() returns an ERR_PTR() on failure rather than NULL,
> but the current code in scx_alloc_and_add_sched() only checks for a NULL
> helper. Incase of failure on SIGQUIT, the error is not handled in
> scx_alloc_and_add_sched() and scx_enable() ends up dereferencing an
> error pointer.
>
> Error handling is fixed in scx_alloc_and_add_sched() to propagate
> PTR_ERR() into ret, so that scx_enable() jumps to the existing error
> path, avoiding random dereference on failure.
>
> Fixes: bff3b5aec1b7 ("sched_ext: Move disable machinery into scx_sched")
> Reported-by: Samir Mulani <samir@linux.ibm.com>
> Signed-off-by: Saket Kumar Bhaskar <skb99@linux.ibm.com>
> ---
>   kernel/sched/ext.c | 5 ++++-
>   1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/kernel/sched/ext.c b/kernel/sched/ext.c
> index 2b0e88206d07..7fc0cce68a1b 100644
> --- a/kernel/sched/ext.c
> +++ b/kernel/sched/ext.c
> @@ -4392,8 +4392,11 @@ static struct scx_sched *scx_alloc_and_add_sched(struct sched_ext_ops *ops)
>   		goto err_free_gdsqs;
>   
>   	sch->helper = kthread_run_worker(0, "sched_ext_helper");
> -	if (!sch->helper)
> +	if (IS_ERR(sch->helper)) {
> +		ret = PTR_ERR(sch->helper);
>   		goto err_free_pcpu;
> +	}
> +
>   	sched_set_fifo(sch->helper->task);
>   
>   	atomic_set(&sch->exit_kind, SCX_EXIT_NONE);
Hi,

I have validated this patch using the tools/testing/selftests/sched_ext 
test suite, and all tests passed without any issues.

Thank you for the fix ..!!
Please add below tag for the patch set.
Tested-by: Samir M <samir@linux.ibm.com>

Regards,
Samir

Re: [PATCH] sched_ext: Fix scx_enable() crash on helper kthread creation failure

[Vishal Chourasia]

On Wed, Nov 19, 2025 at 04:07:22PM +0530, Saket Kumar Bhaskar wrote:
> A crash was observed when the sched_ext selftests runner was
> terminated with Ctrl+\ while test 15 was running:
> 
> NIP [c00000000028fa58] scx_enable.constprop.0+0x358/0x12b0
> LR [c00000000028fa2c] scx_enable.constprop.0+0x32c/0x12b0
> Call Trace:
> scx_enable.constprop.0+0x32c/0x12b0 (unreliable)
> bpf_struct_ops_link_create+0x18c/0x22c
> __sys_bpf+0x23f8/0x3044
> sys_bpf+0x2c/0x6c
> system_call_exception+0x124/0x320
> system_call_vectored_common+0x15c/0x2ec
> 
> kthread_run_worker() returns an ERR_PTR() on failure rather than NULL,
> but the current code in scx_alloc_and_add_sched() only checks for a NULL
> helper. Incase of failure on SIGQUIT, the error is not handled in
> scx_alloc_and_add_sched() and scx_enable() ends up dereferencing an
> error pointer.
> 
> Error handling is fixed in scx_alloc_and_add_sched() to propagate
> PTR_ERR() into ret, so that scx_enable() jumps to the existing error
> path, avoiding random dereference on failure.
> 
> Fixes: bff3b5aec1b7 ("sched_ext: Move disable machinery into scx_sched")
> Reported-by: Samir Mulani <samir@linux.ibm.com>
> Signed-off-by: Saket Kumar Bhaskar <skb99@linux.ibm.com>
> ---
>  kernel/sched/ext.c | 5 ++++-
>  1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/kernel/sched/ext.c b/kernel/sched/ext.c
> index 2b0e88206d07..7fc0cce68a1b 100644
> --- a/kernel/sched/ext.c
> +++ b/kernel/sched/ext.c
> @@ -4392,8 +4392,11 @@ static struct scx_sched *scx_alloc_and_add_sched(struct sched_ext_ops *ops)
>  		goto err_free_gdsqs;
>  
>  	sch->helper = kthread_run_worker(0, "sched_ext_helper");
> -	if (!sch->helper)
> +	if (IS_ERR(sch->helper)) {
> +		ret = PTR_ERR(sch->helper);
>  		goto err_free_pcpu;
> +	}
> +
>  	sched_set_fifo(sch->helper->task);
>  
>  	atomic_set(&sch->exit_kind, SCX_EXIT_NONE);
> -- 
> 2.51.0
LGTM. Thanks Saket for the fix.

Reviewed-by: Vishal Chourasia <vishalc@linux.ibm.com>

> 

Re: [PATCH] sched_ext: Fix scx_enable() crash on helper kthread creation failure

[Tejun Heo]

Applied to sched_ext/for-6.18-fixes.

Thanks.

--
tejun