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* FAILED: patch "[PATCH] mm/slab: prevent unbounded recursion in free path with new" failed to apply to 7.1-stable tree
@ 2026-07-29 13:51 gregkh
  2026-08-08 15:49 ` [PATCH 7.1.y 1/2] lib/alloc_tag: introduce mem_alloc_profiling_permanently_disabled() Sasha Levin
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 3+ messages in thread
From: gregkh @ 2026-07-29 13:51 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: harry, dcostantino, shakeel.butt, surenb, vbabka; +Cc: stable


The patch below does not apply to the 7.1-stable tree.
If someone wants it applied there, or to any other stable or longterm
tree, then please email the backport, including the original git commit
id to <stable@vger.kernel.org>.

To reproduce the conflict and resubmit, you may use the following commands:

git fetch https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/ linux-7.1.y
git checkout FETCH_HEAD
git cherry-pick -x d9e6a7623938968e3752b67e37eaff097e559a54
# <resolve conflicts, build, test, etc.>
git commit -s
git send-email --to '<stable@vger.kernel.org>' --in-reply-to '2026072906-snowbird-tropics-89f9@gregkh' --subject-prefix 'PATCH 7.1.y' 'HEAD^..'

Possible dependencies:



thanks,

greg k-h

------------------ original commit in Linus's tree ------------------

From d9e6a7623938968e3752b67e37eaff097e559a54 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Harry Yoo (Oracle)" <harry@kernel.org>
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2026 23:28:52 +0900
Subject: [PATCH] mm/slab: prevent unbounded recursion in free path with new
 kmalloc type

Commit 280ea9c3154b ("mm/slab: avoid allocating slabobj_ext array from
its own slab") avoided recursive allocation of obj_exts from kmalloc
caches of the same size, by bumping the obj_exts array's allocation
size whenever the array size equals the size of the object being
allocated.

However, as reported by Danielle Costantino and Shakeel Butt,
even slabs from kmalloc caches of different sizes can form a cycle
by allocating obj_exts arrays from each other [1]:

  What happened: a KMALLOC_NORMAL slab's obj_exts array (used by
  allocation profiling / memcg accounting) is itself kmalloc()'d from a
  KMALLOC_NORMAL cache, so the "slab holds another slab's obj_exts array"
  relation can form cycles. With sizeof(struct slabobj_ext) == 16 and
  the host's geometry:

  - kmalloc-512 has 64 objects/slab -> array is 64*16 == 1024 bytes,
    served from kmalloc-1k;
  - kmalloc-1k  has 32 objects/slab -> array is 32*16 ==  512 bytes,
    served from kmalloc-512.

  A kmalloc-512 slab and a kmalloc-1k slab therefore hold each other's
  obj_exts array.  Discarding one frees the other's array, which empties
  and discards that slab, which frees the first's array, and so on:
  __free_slab() -> free_slab_obj_exts() -> kfree() -> discard_slab() ->
  __free_slab() recurses along the cycle until the stack is exhausted.

With memory allocation profiling, this allows unbounded recursion
in the free path and led to a stack overflow on a production host in
the Meta fleet [1]:

  BUG: TASK stack guard page was hit
  Oops: stack guard page
  RIP: 0010:kfree+0x8/0x5d0
  Call Trace:
   __free_slab+0x66/0xc0
   kfree+0x3f0/0x5d0
   ... ( ~125x __free_slab <-> kfree ) ...
   <kernel driver freeing a resource>
   do_syscall_64

It is proposed [1] to resolve this issue by always serving the obj_exts
array allocation from kmalloc caches (or large kmalloc) of sizes larger
than the object size. However, as pointed out by Vlastimil Babka [2],
this can waste an excessive amount of memory as slabs from large
kmalloc sizes (e.g. kmalloc-8k) generally need obj_exts arrays much
smaller than the object size.

Therefore, rather than bumping the size, let us take a different
approach; disallow formation of cycles between kmalloc types when
allocating obj_exts arrays. Currently, all obj_exts arrays are served
from normal kmalloc caches. Cycles cannot be created if obj_exts arrays
of normal kmalloc caches are served from a special kmalloc type that can
never have obj_exts arrays.

To achieve this, create a new kmalloc type called KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT.
KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT caches are created with SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT flag when
either 1) memory allocation profiling is not permanently disabled,
or 2) kmalloc types with a priority higher than KMALLOC_CGROUP are
aliased with KMALLOC_NORMAL.

Sheaf bootstrapping for KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT caches now must be deferred
because allocation of a barn can trigger obj_exts array allocation of
normal kmalloc caches when the KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT cache for that size
is not ready yet. For simplicity, perform bootstrapping of sheaves for
all kmalloc caches later.

Introduce a new slab alloc flag, SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT, to prevent
allocation of obj_exts arrays, and let kmalloc_slab() override the type
to KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT when specified. Note that kmalloc_type() remains
unchanged because kmalloc_flags() bypasses the kmalloc fastpath.

Do not pass SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE to kmalloc_flags() in
alloc_slab_obj_exts() and instead use SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT only when
the objects are allocated from normal kmalloc caches. While this
prevents unbounded recursive allocation of obj_exts, it allows
KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT caches to have sheaves.

Since sheaf allocations specify SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE that prevents
allocation of both sheaves and obj_exts arrays, the recursion depth
is bounded.

obj_exts arrays for non-kmalloc-normal caches can now have a valid tag.
Do not call mark_obj_codetag_empty() when freeing an obj_exts array to
avoid false warnings. KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT don't need this as they never
allocate those arrays.

Reported-by: Danielle Costantino <dcostantino@meta.com>
Reported-by: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20260625230029.703750-1-shakeel.butt@linux.dev [1]
Fixes: 4b8736964640 ("mm/slab: add allocation accounting into slab allocation and free paths")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/c5c4208d-a6f0-413e-bad9-49be12f12d55@kernel.org [2]
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo (Oracle) <harry@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260713-kmalloc-no-objext-v3-4-47c7bd138de7@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) <vbabka@kernel.org>

diff --git a/include/linux/slab.h b/include/linux/slab.h
index 08d7b6c9c4d6..3a14df50766a 100644
--- a/include/linux/slab.h
+++ b/include/linux/slab.h
@@ -708,6 +708,9 @@ enum kmalloc_cache_type {
 #endif
 #ifndef CONFIG_MEMCG
 	KMALLOC_CGROUP = KMALLOC_NORMAL,
+#endif
+#ifndef CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT
+	KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT = KMALLOC_NORMAL,
 #endif
 	KMALLOC_PARTITION_START = KMALLOC_NORMAL,
 	KMALLOC_PARTITION_END = KMALLOC_PARTITION_START + KMALLOC_PARTITION_CACHES_NR,
@@ -721,6 +724,9 @@ enum kmalloc_cache_type {
 #endif
 #ifdef CONFIG_MEMCG
 	KMALLOC_CGROUP,
+#endif
+#ifdef CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT
+	KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT,
 #endif
 	NR_KMALLOC_TYPES
 };
diff --git a/mm/slab.h b/mm/slab.h
index 281a65233795..f5e336b6b6b0 100644
--- a/mm/slab.h
+++ b/mm/slab.h
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #define SLAB_ALLOC_NOLOCK	0x01 /* a kmalloc_nolock() allocation */
 #define SLAB_ALLOC_NEW_SLAB	0x02 /* a flag for alloc_slab_obj_exts() */
 #define SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE	0x04 /* prevent kmalloc() recursion */
+#define SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT	0x08 /* prevent obj_exts array allocation */
 
 static inline bool alloc_flags_allow_spinning(const unsigned int alloc_flags)
 {
@@ -386,12 +387,17 @@ static inline unsigned int size_index_elem(unsigned int bytes)
  * KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE and the caller must check that.
  */
 static inline struct kmem_cache *
-kmalloc_slab(size_t size, kmem_buckets *b, gfp_t flags, kmalloc_token_t token)
+kmalloc_slab(size_t size, kmem_buckets *b, gfp_t flags, kmalloc_token_t token,
+	     unsigned int alloc_flags)
 {
 	unsigned int index;
+	enum kmalloc_cache_type type = kmalloc_type(flags, token);
+
+	if (alloc_flags & SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT)
+		type = KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT;
 
 	if (!b)
-		b = &kmalloc_caches[kmalloc_type(flags, token)];
+		b = &kmalloc_caches[type];
 	if (size <= 192)
 		index = kmalloc_size_index[size_index_elem(size)];
 	else
@@ -426,7 +432,8 @@ static inline bool is_kmalloc_normal(struct kmem_cache *s)
 {
 	if (!is_kmalloc_cache(s))
 		return false;
-	return !(s->flags & (SLAB_CACHE_DMA|SLAB_ACCOUNT|SLAB_RECLAIM_ACCOUNT));
+
+	return !(s->flags & (SLAB_CACHE_DMA|SLAB_ACCOUNT|SLAB_RECLAIM_ACCOUNT|SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT));
 }
 
 bool __kfree_rcu_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, void *obj);
@@ -529,6 +536,25 @@ static inline void metadata_access_disable(void)
 	kasan_enable_current();
 }
 
+/*
+ * Return true if KMALLOC_NORMAL caches may need obj_exts arrays.
+ *
+ * Memory allocation profiling requires obj_exts for all caches.
+ * Memcg usually doesn't need them for normal kmalloc caches, but kmalloc types
+ * with a priority higher than KMALLOC_CGROUP can be aliased with KMALLOC_NORMAL.
+ */
+static inline bool need_kmalloc_no_objext(void)
+{
+	if (!mem_alloc_profiling_permanently_disabled())
+		return true;
+
+	if (!mem_cgroup_kmem_disabled() &&
+			(KMALLOC_NORMAL == KMALLOC_RECLAIM))
+		return true;
+
+	return false;
+}
+
 #ifdef CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT
 
 /*
diff --git a/mm/slab_common.c b/mm/slab_common.c
index b6426d7ceec9..03ecac12cd86 100644
--- a/mm/slab_common.c
+++ b/mm/slab_common.c
@@ -783,11 +783,15 @@ u8 kmalloc_size_index[24] __ro_after_init = {
 size_t kmalloc_size_roundup(size_t size)
 {
 	if (size && size <= KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE) {
+		struct kmem_cache *s;
+
 		/*
 		 * The flags don't matter since size_index is common to all.
 		 * Neither does the caller for just getting ->object_size.
 		 */
-		return kmalloc_slab(size, NULL, GFP_KERNEL, __kmalloc_token(0))->object_size;
+		s = kmalloc_slab(size, NULL, GFP_KERNEL, __kmalloc_token(0),
+				 SLAB_ALLOC_DEFAULT);
+		return s->object_size;
 	}
 
 	/* Above the smaller buckets, size is a multiple of page size. */
@@ -843,6 +847,12 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(kmalloc_size_roundup);
 #define KMALLOC_PARTITION_NAME(N, sz)
 #endif
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT
+#define KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT_NAME(sz) .name[KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT] = "kmalloc-no-objext-" #sz,
+#else
+#define KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT_NAME(sz)
+#endif
+
 #define INIT_KMALLOC_INFO(__size, __short_size)			\
 {								\
 	.name[KMALLOC_NORMAL]  = "kmalloc-" #__short_size,	\
@@ -850,6 +860,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(kmalloc_size_roundup);
 	KMALLOC_CGROUP_NAME(__short_size)			\
 	KMALLOC_DMA_NAME(__short_size)				\
 	KMALLOC_PARTITION_NAME(KMALLOC_PARTITION_CACHES_NR, __short_size)	\
+	KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT_NAME(__short_size)			\
 	.size = __size,						\
 }
 
@@ -957,6 +968,12 @@ new_kmalloc_cache(int idx, enum kmalloc_cache_type type)
 			return;
 		}
 		flags |= SLAB_ACCOUNT;
+	} else if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT) && type == KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT) {
+		if (!need_kmalloc_no_objext()) {
+			kmalloc_caches[type][idx] = kmalloc_caches[KMALLOC_NORMAL][idx];
+			return;
+		}
+		flags |= SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT | SLAB_NO_MERGE;
 	} else if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ZONE_DMA) && (type == KMALLOC_DMA)) {
 		flags |= SLAB_CACHE_DMA;
 	}
diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
index abe748b7dddb..0337e60db5ac 100644
--- a/mm/slub.c
+++ b/mm/slub.c
@@ -2123,42 +2123,6 @@ static inline void init_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab)
 	slab->obj_exts = 0;
 }
 
-/*
- * Calculate the allocation size for slabobj_ext array.
- *
- * When memory allocation profiling is enabled, the obj_exts array
- * could be allocated from the same slab cache it's being allocated for.
- * This would prevent the slab from ever being freed because it would
- * always contain at least one allocated object (its own obj_exts array).
- *
- * To avoid this, increase the allocation size when we detect the array
- * may come from the same cache, forcing it to use a different cache.
- */
-static inline size_t obj_exts_alloc_size(struct kmem_cache *s,
-					 struct slab *slab, gfp_t gfp)
-{
-	size_t sz = sizeof(struct slabobj_ext) * slab->objects;
-	struct kmem_cache *obj_exts_cache;
-
-	if (sz > KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE)
-		return sz;
-
-	if (!is_kmalloc_normal(s))
-		return sz;
-
-	obj_exts_cache = kmalloc_slab(sz, NULL, gfp, __kmalloc_token(0));
-	/*
-	 * We can't simply compare s with obj_exts_cache, because partitioned kmalloc
-	 * caches have multiple caches per size, selected by caller address or type.
-	 * Since caller address or type may differ between kmalloc_slab() and actual
-	 * allocation, bump size when sizes are equal.
-	 */
-	if (s->object_size == obj_exts_cache->object_size)
-		return obj_exts_cache->object_size + 1;
-
-	return sz;
-}
-
 int alloc_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab, struct kmem_cache *s,
 			gfp_t gfp, unsigned int alloc_flags)
 {
@@ -2168,14 +2132,18 @@ int alloc_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab, struct kmem_cache *s,
 	unsigned long new_exts;
 	unsigned long old_exts;
 	struct slabobj_ext *vec;
-	size_t sz;
+	size_t sz = sizeof(struct slabobj_ext) * slab->objects;
 
 	gfp &= ~OBJCGS_CLEAR_MASK;
-	/* Prevent recursive extension vector allocation */
-	alloc_flags |= SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE;
-	alloc_flags &= ~SLAB_ALLOC_NEW_SLAB;
+	/*
+	 * In most cases, obj_exts arrays are allocated from normal kmalloc.
+	 * However, normal kmalloc caches must allocate them from
+	 * KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT caches to prevent recursion.
+	 */
+	if (is_kmalloc_normal(s))
+		alloc_flags |= SLAB_ALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT;
 
-	sz = obj_exts_alloc_size(s, slab, gfp);
+	alloc_flags &= ~SLAB_ALLOC_NEW_SLAB;
 
 	/* This will use kmalloc_nolock() if alloc_flags say so */
 	vec = kmalloc_flags(sz, gfp | __GFP_ZERO, alloc_flags, slab_nid(slab));
@@ -2193,8 +2161,21 @@ int alloc_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab, struct kmem_cache *s,
 		return -ENOMEM;
 	}
 
-	VM_WARN_ON_ONCE(virt_to_slab(vec) != NULL &&
-			virt_to_slab(vec)->slab_cache == s);
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_DEBUG_VM)) {
+		struct kmem_cache *exts_cache;
+		struct slab *exts_slab;
+
+		exts_slab = virt_to_slab(vec);
+		if (exts_slab) {
+			/*
+			 * The vector must be allocated from either normal or
+			 * KMALLOC_NO_OBJ_EXT kmalloc caches to avoid cycles.
+			 */
+			exts_cache = exts_slab->slab_cache;
+			WARN_ON_ONCE(!is_kmalloc_normal(exts_cache) &&
+					!(exts_cache->flags & SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT));
+		}
+	}
 
 	new_exts = (unsigned long)vec;
 #ifdef CONFIG_MEMCG
@@ -2217,7 +2198,6 @@ int alloc_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab, struct kmem_cache *s,
 		 * assign slabobj_exts in parallel. In this case the existing
 		 * objcg vector should be reused.
 		 */
-		mark_obj_codetag_empty(vec);
 		if (unlikely(!allow_spin))
 			kfree_nolock(vec);
 		else
@@ -2253,14 +2233,6 @@ static inline void free_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab, bool allow_spin)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	/*
-	 * obj_exts was created with SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE flag, therefore its
-	 * corresponding extension will be NULL. alloc_tag_sub() will throw a
-	 * warning if slab has extensions but the extension of an object is
-	 * NULL, therefore replace NULL with CODETAG_EMPTY to indicate that
-	 * the extension for obj_exts is expected to be NULL.
-	 */
-	mark_obj_codetag_empty(obj_exts);
 	if (allow_spin)
 		kfree(obj_exts);
 	else
@@ -5356,7 +5328,7 @@ void *__do_kmalloc_node(kmem_buckets *b, gfp_t flags, int node,
 	if (unlikely(!size))
 		return ZERO_SIZE_PTR;
 
-	s = kmalloc_slab(size, b, flags, token);
+	s = kmalloc_slab(size, b, flags, token, ac->alloc_flags);
 
 	ret = slab_alloc_node(s, flags, node, ac);
 	ret = kasan_kmalloc(s, ret, size, flags);
@@ -5419,7 +5391,9 @@ static void *__kmalloc_nolock_noprof(DECL_TOKEN_PARAMS(size, token), gfp_t gfp_f
 retry:
 	if (unlikely(size > KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE))
 		return NULL;
-	s = kmalloc_slab(size, NULL, gfp_flags, PASS_TOKEN_PARAM(token));
+
+	s = kmalloc_slab(size, NULL, gfp_flags, PASS_TOKEN_PARAM(token),
+			 ac->alloc_flags);
 
 	if (!(s->flags & __CMPXCHG_DOUBLE) && !kmem_cache_debug(s))
 		/*
@@ -7979,10 +7953,10 @@ static int calculate_sizes(struct kmem_cache_args *args, struct kmem_cache *s)
 		s->allocflags |= __GFP_RECLAIMABLE;
 
 	/*
-	 * For KMALLOC_NORMAL caches we enable sheaves later by
-	 * bootstrap_kmalloc_sheaves() to avoid recursion
+	 * For kmalloc caches we enable sheaves later by
+	 * bootstrap_kmalloc_sheaves() to avoid recursion.
 	 */
-	if (!is_kmalloc_normal(s))
+	if (!is_kmalloc_cache(s))
 		s->sheaf_capacity = calculate_sheaf_capacity(s, args);
 
 	/*
@@ -8548,7 +8522,7 @@ static void __init bootstrap_kmalloc_sheaves(void)
 {
 	enum kmalloc_cache_type type;
 
-	for (type = KMALLOC_NORMAL; type <= KMALLOC_PARTITION_END; type++) {
+	for (type = KMALLOC_NORMAL; type < NR_KMALLOC_TYPES; type++) {
 		for (int idx = 0; idx < KMALLOC_SHIFT_HIGH + 1; idx++) {
 			struct kmem_cache *s = kmalloc_caches[type][idx];
 


^ permalink raw reply related	[flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2026-08-08 15:49 UTC | newest]

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2026-07-29 13:51 FAILED: patch "[PATCH] mm/slab: prevent unbounded recursion in free path with new" failed to apply to 7.1-stable tree gregkh
2026-08-08 15:49 ` [PATCH 7.1.y 1/2] lib/alloc_tag: introduce mem_alloc_profiling_permanently_disabled() Sasha Levin
2026-08-08 15:49   ` [PATCH 7.1.y 2/2] mm/slab: prevent unbounded recursion in free path with new kmalloc type Sasha Levin

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