+ mm-damon-stat-deallocate-damon_call-failure-leaking-damon_ctx.patch added to mm-hotfixes-unstable branch

[Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>]

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The patch titled
     Subject: mm/damon/stat: deallocate damon_call() failure leaking damon_ctx
has been added to the -mm mm-hotfixes-unstable branch.  Its filename is
     mm-damon-stat-deallocate-damon_call-failure-leaking-damon_ctx.patch

This patch will shortly appear at
     https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/25-new.git/tree/patches/mm-damon-stat-deallocate-damon_call-failure-leaking-damon_ctx.patch

This patch will later appear in the mm-hotfixes-unstable branch at
    git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/mm

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------------------------------------------------------
From: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
Subject: mm/damon/stat: deallocate damon_call() failure leaking damon_ctx
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2026 06:44:17 -0700

damon_stat_start() always allocates the module's damon_ctx object
(damon_stat_context).  Meanwhile, if damon_call() in the function fails,
the damon_ctx object is not deallocated.  Hence, if the damon_call() is
failed, and the user writes Y to “enabled” again, the previously
allocated damon_ctx object is leaked.

This cannot simply be fixed by deallocating the damon_ctx object when
damon_call() fails.  That's because damon_call() failure doesn't guarantee
the kdamond main function, which accesses the damon_ctx object, is
completely finished.  In other words, if damon_stat_start() deallocates
the damon_ctx object after damon_call() failure, the not-yet-terminated
kdamond could access the freed memory (use-after-free).

Fix the leak while avoiding the use-after-free by keeping returning
damon_stat_start() without deallocating the damon_ctx object after
damon_call() failure, but deallocating it when the function is invoked
again and the kdamond is completely terminated.  If the kdamond is not yet
terminated, simply return -EAGAIN, as the kdamond will soon be terminated.

The issue was discovered [1] by sashiko.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20260402134418.74121-1-sj@kernel.org
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260401012428.86694-1-sj@kernel.org [1]
Fixes: 405f61996d9d ("mm/damon/stat: use damon_call() repeat mode instead of damon_callback")
Signed-off-by: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 6.17.x
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
---

 mm/damon/stat.c |    7 +++++++
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)

--- a/mm/damon/stat.c~mm-damon-stat-deallocate-damon_call-failure-leaking-damon_ctx
+++ a/mm/damon/stat.c
@@ -245,6 +245,12 @@ static int damon_stat_start(void)
 {
 	int err;
 
+	if (damon_stat_context) {
+		if (damon_is_running(damon_stat_context))
+			return -EAGAIN;
+		damon_destroy_ctx(damon_stat_context);
+	}
+
 	damon_stat_context = damon_stat_build_ctx();
 	if (!damon_stat_context)
 		return -ENOMEM;
@@ -261,6 +267,7 @@ static void damon_stat_stop(void)
 {
 	damon_stop(&damon_stat_context, 1);
 	damon_destroy_ctx(damon_stat_context);
+	damon_stat_context = NULL;
 }
 
 static int damon_stat_enabled_store(
_

Patches currently in -mm which might be from sj@kernel.org are

mm-damon-sysfs-dealloc-repeat_call_control-if-damon_call-fails.patch
mm-damon-stat-deallocate-damon_call-failure-leaking-damon_ctx.patch
mm-damon-core-fix-damon_call-vs-kdamond_fn-exit-race.patch
mm-damon-core-fix-damos_walk-vs-kdamond_fn-exit-race.patch
mm-damon-core-validate-damos_quota_goal-nid-for-node_mem_usedfree_bp.patch
mm-damon-core-validate-damos_quota_goal-nid-for-node_memcg_usedfree_bp.patch
mm-damon-core-use-time_in_range_open-for-damos-quota-window-start.patch
docs-admin-guide-mm-damon-reclaim-warn-commit_inputs-vs-param-updates-race.patch
docs-admin-guide-mm-damon-lru_sort-warn-commit_inputs-vs-param-updates-race.patch