From: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
To: stable@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>,
Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>,
Davidlohr Bueso <dave@stgolabs.net>,
Lance Yang <lance.yang@linux.dev>,
Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com>, Qian Cai <cai@lca.pw>,
SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>,
Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
Subject: [PATCH 7.2.y 1/3] mm/kmemleak: avoid soft lockup when scanning task stacks
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2026 13:49:06 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260903174908.1268466-1-sashal@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <2026090344-tightly-handiwork-36ab@gregkh>
From: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
[ Upstream commit 5d10d4e19e6daa487f0cd0ea6cba472325de92f9 ]
Patch series "mm/kmemleak: avoid soft lockup when scanning task", v3.
kmemleak_scan() scans every task stack under one rcu_read_lock() with no
reschedule point, which can trip the soft lockup watchdog on hosts with
very many threads.
That prints the following message, depending on the workload+host
configuration:
watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#35 stuck for 22s! [kmemleak:537]
scan_block
kmemleak_scan
kmemleak_scan_thread
kthread
Patch 1 walks the tasks with find_ge_pid() so the scan reschedules between
tasks
Patches 2-3 let the scan loops stop early once a scan is interrupted.
This patch (of 3):
kmemleak_scan() walks every thread and scans its kernel stack under a
single rcu_read_lock() with no reschedule point. On a host with very many
threads -- amplified by KASAN/lockdep in debug builds -- this loop can hog
a CPU long enough to trip the soft lockup watchdog:
watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#35 stuck for 22s! [kmemleak:537]
scan_block
kmemleak_scan
kmemleak_scan_thread
kthread
A cond_resched() cannot be added directly: the loop runs inside an RCU
read-side critical section.
Walk the tasks one PID at a time with find_ge_pid(), taking the RCU read
lock only to look up and pin each task. The stack is then scanned with no
lock held, so cond_resched() runs between tasks and the scan stops early
on scan_should_stop(). This follows the next_tgid()/task_seq_get_next()
iteration pattern and keeps each RCU critical section short.
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260615-kmemleak-stack-resched-v3-0-acecd7d7fd92@debian.org
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260615-kmemleak-stack-resched-v3-1-acecd7d7fd92@debian.org
Fixes: c4b28963fd79 ("mm/kmemleak: rely on rcu for task stack scanning")
Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
Reviewed-by: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>
Reviewed-by: Davidlohr Bueso <dave@stgolabs.net>
Reviewed-by: Lance Yang <lance.yang@linux.dev>
Reviewed-by: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com>
Cc: Qian Cai <cai@lca.pw>
Cc: SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Stable-dep-of: 3541a2b06ecd ("mm/kmemleak: report RCU-tasks quiescent states during the scan")
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---
mm/kmemleak.c | 51 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------
1 file changed, 38 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)
diff --git a/mm/kmemleak.c b/mm/kmemleak.c
index e196f53f9b462..16b72cead07d2 100644
--- a/mm/kmemleak.c
+++ b/mm/kmemleak.c
@@ -1696,6 +1696,42 @@ static void kmemleak_cond_resched(struct kmemleak_object *object)
put_object(object);
}
+/*
+ * Scan all task kernel stacks, rescheduling between tasks. Each task is looked
+ * up and pinned within its own RCU read-side section, so no lock is held across
+ * the scan and the walk cannot trip the soft lockup watchdog.
+ */
+static void kmemleak_scan_task_stacks(void)
+{
+ struct pid *pid;
+ int nr = 1;
+
+ do {
+ struct task_struct *p = NULL;
+
+ rcu_read_lock();
+ pid = find_ge_pid(nr, &init_pid_ns);
+ if (pid) {
+ nr = pid_nr(pid) + 1;
+ p = pid_task(pid, PIDTYPE_PID);
+ if (p)
+ get_task_struct(p);
+ }
+ rcu_read_unlock();
+
+ if (p) {
+ void *stack = try_get_task_stack(p);
+
+ if (stack) {
+ scan_block(stack, stack + THREAD_SIZE, NULL);
+ put_task_stack(p);
+ }
+ put_task_struct(p);
+ }
+ cond_resched();
+ } while (pid && !scan_should_stop());
+}
+
/*
* Print one leak inline. The hex dump is gated on OBJECT_ALLOCATED so it
* does not touch user memory that was freed concurrently; the rest of the
@@ -1885,19 +1921,8 @@ static void kmemleak_scan(void)
/*
* Scanning the task stacks (may introduce false negatives).
*/
- if (kmemleak_stack_scan) {
- struct task_struct *p, *g;
-
- rcu_read_lock();
- for_each_process_thread(g, p) {
- void *stack = try_get_task_stack(p);
- if (stack) {
- scan_block(stack, stack + THREAD_SIZE, NULL);
- put_task_stack(p);
- }
- }
- rcu_read_unlock();
- }
+ if (kmemleak_stack_scan)
+ kmemleak_scan_task_stacks();
/*
* Scan the objects already referenced from the sections scanned
--
2.53.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-09-03 17:49 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-09-03 10:47 FAILED: patch "[PATCH] mm/kmemleak: report RCU-tasks quiescent states during the" failed to apply to 7.2-stable tree gregkh
2026-09-03 17:49 ` Sasha Levin [this message]
2026-09-03 17:49 ` [PATCH 7.2.y 2/3] mm/kmemleak: stop the task stack scan early when interrupted Sasha Levin
2026-09-03 17:49 ` [PATCH 7.2.y 3/3] mm/kmemleak: report RCU-tasks quiescent states during the scan Sasha Levin
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