[PATCH v4 0/2] mm, memcg: fix memory.peak reset clobbering other fds' watermark

[PATCH v4 0/2] mm, memcg: fix memory.peak reset clobbering other fds' watermark

[Ridong Chen]

From: Ridong Chen <chenridong@xiaomi.com>

The memory.peak / memory.swap.peak per-fd watermark tracking has two
issues. Each open fd is a watcher and reads back max(its own value, the
shared local_watermark); both bugs live in that scheme.

Worst case for both is the same and is userspace-visible: a reader of
memory.peak (or memory.swap.peak) gets a value lower than the true peak,
so a tool that sizes or bills a cgroup by its peak usage under-reports it.

Patch 1 (read side) fixes the race Sashiko pointed out in the v1 review
[1]: peak_show() inspects local_watermark and the per-fd values without
holding peaks_lock, so a reader that races an unrelated peak_write()
reset briefly observes the lowered value. Transient. It takes peaks_lock
in the show path.

Patch 2 (write side) fixes peak_write(): on a reset it stores the
current usage into the other watchers instead of the old watermark, so
once usage has dropped from a peak a reset on one fd drags every other
fd's peak down too, even fds that never reset.

---
Changes since v3:
- Switch to guard(spinlock) in the peak readers, suggested by Muchun.

Changes since v2:
- Spell out the worst-case userspace-visible effect, per Andrew's
  Go back to v1 [2].

Changes since v1:
 - New patch 1: hold peaks_lock in the peak readers (Sashiko).
 - Patch 2: floor the peers with max(usage, local_watermark), mirroring
   peak_show(), and skip the writing fd (Johannes Weiner).

[1] https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260730115314.1069089-1-ridong.chen@linux.dev?part=1
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260730115314.1069089-1-ridong.chen@linux.dev/

Ridong Chen (2):
  memcg: acquire peaks_lock when reading memory.peak
  mm, memcg: fix memory.peak reset clobbering other fds' watermark

 mm/memcontrol.c | 9 ++++++---
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

-- 
2.34.1

[PATCH v4 1/2] memcg: acquire peaks_lock when reading memory.peak

[Ridong Chen]

From: Ridong Chen <chenridong@xiaomi.com>

Sashiko reported that a reader can transiently observe a lower peak
within a race window [1]. peak_show() returns
max(local_watermark, ofp->value), but peak_write() updates those two
under peaks_lock while the reader takes no lock. The interleaving is:

  writer (reset on fd A)                 reader (fd B)
  ----------------------                 -------------
  usage = page_counter_read(pc)
  WRITE_ONCE(local_watermark, usage)
  // watermark lowered to usage
                                         lw  = READ_ONCE(local_watermark)
                                         // sees the lowered usage
                                         val = READ_ONCE(ofp->value)
                                         // B's value not updated yet
                                         return max(lw, val)
                                         // both low -> low peak
  WRITE_ONCE(peer_ctx->value, usage)
  // B updated, but too late

Fix it by acquiring peaks_lock when reading the peak, so the reader sees
a consistent snapshot of local_watermark and the per-fd values. The same
race applies to memory.swap.peak, which shares peaks_lock and the
peak_write() path, so take the lock there as well.

[1] https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260730115314.1069089-1-ridong.chen@linux.dev?part=1
Fixes: c6f53ed8f213 ("mm, memcg: cg2 memory{.swap,}.peak write handlers")
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-8
Signed-off-by: Ridong Chen <chenridong@xiaomi.com>
Acked-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Acked-by: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>
---
 mm/memcontrol.c | 2 ++
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index 17da1f43b7d3..ceb43b855122 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -4714,6 +4714,7 @@ static int memory_peak_show(struct seq_file *sf, void *v)
 {
 	struct mem_cgroup *memcg = mem_cgroup_from_css(seq_css(sf));
 
+	guard(spinlock)(&memcg->peaks_lock);
 	return peak_show(sf, v, &memcg->memory);
 }
 
@@ -5859,6 +5860,7 @@ static int swap_peak_show(struct seq_file *sf, void *v)
 {
 	struct mem_cgroup *memcg = mem_cgroup_from_css(seq_css(sf));
 
+	guard(spinlock)(&memcg->peaks_lock);
 	return peak_show(sf, v, &memcg->swap);
 }
 
-- 
2.34.1

Re: [PATCH v4 1/2] memcg: acquire peaks_lock when reading memory.peak

[Muchun Song]

> On Aug 14, 2026, at 11:30, Ridong Chen <ridong.chen@linux.dev> wrote:
> 
> From: Ridong Chen <chenridong@xiaomi.com>
> 
> Sashiko reported that a reader can transiently observe a lower peak
> within a race window [1]. peak_show() returns
> max(local_watermark, ofp->value), but peak_write() updates those two
> under peaks_lock while the reader takes no lock. The interleaving is:
> 
>  writer (reset on fd A)                 reader (fd B)
>  ----------------------                 -------------
>  usage = page_counter_read(pc)
>  WRITE_ONCE(local_watermark, usage)
>  // watermark lowered to usage
>                                         lw  = READ_ONCE(local_watermark)
>                                         // sees the lowered usage
>                                         val = READ_ONCE(ofp->value)
>                                         // B's value not updated yet
>                                         return max(lw, val)
>                                         // both low -> low peak
>  WRITE_ONCE(peer_ctx->value, usage)
>  // B updated, but too late
> 
> Fix it by acquiring peaks_lock when reading the peak, so the reader sees
> a consistent snapshot of local_watermark and the per-fd values. The same
> race applies to memory.swap.peak, which shares peaks_lock and the
> peak_write() path, so take the lock there as well.
> 
> [1] https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260730115314.1069089-1-ridong.chen@linux.dev?part=1
> Fixes: c6f53ed8f213 ("mm, memcg: cg2 memory{.swap,}.peak write handlers")
> Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-8
> Signed-off-by: Ridong Chen <chenridong@xiaomi.com>
> Acked-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
> Acked-by: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>

Reviewed-by: Muchun Song <muchun.song@linux.dev>

Thanks

[PATCH v4 2/2] mm, memcg: fix memory.peak reset clobbering other fds' watermark

[Ridong Chen]

From: Ridong Chen <chenridong@xiaomi.com>

Writing to memory.peak resets the peak for that fd only. Each fd is a
watcher and reads back max(its own value, the shared local_watermark).

peak_write() resets by lowering local_watermark to the current usage.
To keep the other watchers' peaks it then walks the watcher list, but it
stores the current usage into them instead of the old watermark. So once
usage has dropped from a peak, a reset on one fd wrongly drags every
other fd's peak down too, even fds that never reset.

Reproduced on 7.2.0-rc5-next under QEMU, two fds A and B on one cgroup:
B sees the peak (410624 KB), usage drops, then A resets -- and B's peak
collapses to 1060 KB although B never reset. With this patch B keeps
reading 410624 KB.

Fix: save the old watermark before lowering it and use that to floor the
other watchers, so a reset only affects the fd that issued it.

Fixes: c6f53ed8f213 ("mm, memcg: cg2 memory{.swap,}.peak write handlers")
Closes: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260807090000.1532495-1-ridong.chen@linux.dev
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-8
Acked-by: Tao Cui <cuitao@kylinos.cn>
Acked-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Signed-off-by: Ridong Chen <chenridong@xiaomi.com>
---
 mm/memcontrol.c | 7 ++++---
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index ceb43b855122..5932046c637d 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -4744,7 +4744,7 @@ static ssize_t peak_write(struct kernfs_open_file *of, char *buf, size_t nbytes,
 			  loff_t off, struct page_counter *pc,
 			  struct list_head *watchers)
 {
-	unsigned long usage;
+	unsigned long usage, old_watermark;
 	struct cgroup_of_peak *peer_ctx;
 	struct mem_cgroup *memcg = mem_cgroup_from_css(of_css(of));
 	struct cgroup_of_peak *ofp = of_peak(of);
@@ -4752,11 +4752,12 @@ static ssize_t peak_write(struct kernfs_open_file *of, char *buf, size_t nbytes,
 	spin_lock(&memcg->peaks_lock);
 
 	usage = page_counter_read(pc);
+	old_watermark = READ_ONCE(pc->local_watermark);
 	WRITE_ONCE(pc->local_watermark, usage);
 
 	list_for_each_entry(peer_ctx, watchers, list)
-		if (usage > peer_ctx->value)
-			WRITE_ONCE(peer_ctx->value, usage);
+		if (peer_ctx != ofp && old_watermark > peer_ctx->value)
+			WRITE_ONCE(peer_ctx->value, old_watermark);
 
 	/* initial write, register watcher */
 	if (ofp->value == OFP_PEAK_UNSET)
-- 
2.34.1

Re: [PATCH v4 2/2] mm, memcg: fix memory.peak reset clobbering other fds' watermark

[Shakeel Butt]

On Fri, Aug 14, 2026 at 11:30:05AM +0800, Ridong Chen wrote:
> From: Ridong Chen <chenridong@xiaomi.com>
> 
> Writing to memory.peak resets the peak for that fd only. Each fd is a
> watcher and reads back max(its own value, the shared local_watermark).
> 
> peak_write() resets by lowering local_watermark to the current usage.
> To keep the other watchers' peaks it then walks the watcher list, but it
> stores the current usage into them instead of the old watermark. So once
> usage has dropped from a peak, a reset on one fd wrongly drags every
> other fd's peak down too, even fds that never reset.
> 
> Reproduced on 7.2.0-rc5-next under QEMU, two fds A and B on one cgroup:
> B sees the peak (410624 KB), usage drops, then A resets -- and B's peak
> collapses to 1060 KB although B never reset. With this patch B keeps
> reading 410624 KB.
> 
> Fix: save the old watermark before lowering it and use that to floor the
> other watchers, so a reset only affects the fd that issued it.
> 
> Fixes: c6f53ed8f213 ("mm, memcg: cg2 memory{.swap,}.peak write handlers")
> Closes: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260807090000.1532495-1-ridong.chen@linux.dev
> Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-8
> Acked-by: Tao Cui <cuitao@kylinos.cn>
> Acked-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
> Signed-off-by: Ridong Chen <chenridong@xiaomi.com>

Acked-by: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>