[PATCH 4.9 16/66] mm, page_alloc: fix potential false positive in __zone_watermark_ok

From: Greg Kroah-Hartman
Date: Mon Jan 29 2018 - 15:53:29 EST


4.9-stable review patch. If anyone has any objections, please let me know.

------------------

From: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@xxxxxxx>

commit b050e3769c6b4013bb937e879fc43bf1847ee819 upstream.

Since commit 97a16fc82a7c ("mm, page_alloc: only enforce watermarks for
order-0 allocations"), __zone_watermark_ok() check for high-order
allocations will shortcut per-migratetype free list checks for
ALLOC_HARDER allocations, and return true as long as there's free page
of any migratetype. The intention is that ALLOC_HARDER can allocate
from MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC free lists, while normal allocations can't.

However, as a side effect, the watermark check will then also return
true when there are pages only on the MIGRATE_ISOLATE list, or (prior to
CMA conversion to ZONE_MOVABLE) on the MIGRATE_CMA list. Since the
allocation cannot actually obtain isolated pages, and might not be able
to obtain CMA pages, this can result in a false positive.

The condition should be rare and perhaps the outcome is not a fatal one.
Still, it's better if the watermark check is correct. There also
shouldn't be a performance tradeoff here.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20171102125001.23708-1-vbabka@xxxxxxx
Fixes: 97a16fc82a7c ("mm, page_alloc: only enforce watermarks for order-0 allocations")
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@xxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Mel Gorman <mgorman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Joonsoo Kim <iamjoonsoo.kim@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Rik van Riel <riel@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: David Rientjes <rientjes@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Johannes Weiner <hannes@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

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

--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -2821,9 +2821,6 @@ bool __zone_watermark_ok(struct zone *z,
if (!area->nr_free)
continue;

- if (alloc_harder)
- return true;
-
for (mt = 0; mt < MIGRATE_PCPTYPES; mt++) {
if (!list_empty(&area->free_list[mt]))
return true;
@@ -2835,6 +2832,9 @@ bool __zone_watermark_ok(struct zone *z,
return true;
}
#endif
+ if (alloc_harder &&
+ !list_empty(&area->free_list[MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC]))
+ return true;
}
return false;
}