Re: [PATCH] netfs: Fix kernel BUG in netfs_limit_iter() for ITER_KVEC iterators

[Vitaly Chikunov]

Deepanshu, David,

On Sat, Mar 07, 2026 at 02:30:41PM +0530, Deepanshu Kartikey wrote:
> When a process crashes and the kernel writes a core dump to a 9P
> filesystem, __kernel_write() creates an ITER_KVEC iterator. This
> iterator reaches netfs_limit_iter() via netfs_unbuffered_write(), which
> only handles ITER_FOLIOQ, ITER_BVEC and ITER_XARRAY iterator types,
> hitting the BUG() for any other type.
> 
> Fix this by adding netfs_limit_kvec() following the same pattern as
> netfs_limit_bvec(), since both kvec and bvec are simple segment arrays
> with pointer and length fields. Dispatch it from netfs_limit_iter() when
> the iterator type is ITER_KVEC.

  [    1.901035] kernel BUG at fs/netfs/iterator.c:248!

We hit the issue in v6.18.17 and the patch resolved it.

Tested-by: Vitaly Chikunov <vt@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Thanks,


> 
> Fixes: cae932d3aee5 ("netfs: Add func to calculate pagecount/size-limited span of an iterator")
> Reported-by: syzbot+9c058f0d63475adc97fd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=9c058f0d63475adc97fd
> Tested-by: syzbot+9c058f0d63475adc97fd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Signed-off-by: Deepanshu Kartikey <Kartikey406@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  fs/netfs/iterator.c | 43 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 43 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/fs/netfs/iterator.c b/fs/netfs/iterator.c
> index 72a435e5fc6d..154a14bb2d7f 100644
> --- a/fs/netfs/iterator.c
> +++ b/fs/netfs/iterator.c
> @@ -142,6 +142,47 @@ static size_t netfs_limit_bvec(const struct iov_iter *iter, size_t start_offset,
>  	return min(span, max_size);
>  }
>  
> +/*
> + * Select the span of a kvec iterator we're going to use.  Limit it by both
> + * maximum size and maximum number of segments.  Returns the size of the span
> + * in bytes.
> + */
> +static size_t netfs_limit_kvec(const struct iov_iter *iter, size_t start_offset,
> +			       size_t max_size, size_t max_segs)
> +{
> +	const struct kvec *kvecs = iter->kvec;
> +	unsigned int nkv = iter->nr_segs, ix = 0, nsegs = 0;
> +	size_t len, span = 0, n = iter->count;
> +	size_t skip = iter->iov_offset + start_offset;
> +
> +	if (WARN_ON(!iov_iter_is_kvec(iter)) ||
> +	    WARN_ON(start_offset > n) ||
> +	    n == 0)
> +		return 0;
> +
> +	while (n && ix < nkv && skip) {
> +		len = kvecs[ix].iov_len;
> +		if (skip < len)
> +			break;
> +		skip -= len;
> +		n -= len;
> +		ix++;
> +	}
> +
> +	while (n && ix < nkv) {
> +		len = min3(n, kvecs[ix].iov_len - skip, max_size);
> +		span += len;
> +		nsegs++;
> +		ix++;
> +		if (span >= max_size || nsegs >= max_segs)
> +			break;
> +		skip = 0;
> +		n -= len;
> +	}
> +
> +	return min(span, max_size);
> +}
> +
>  /*
>   * Select the span of an xarray iterator we're going to use.  Limit it by both
>   * maximum size and maximum number of segments.  It is assumed that segments
> @@ -245,6 +286,8 @@ size_t netfs_limit_iter(const struct iov_iter *iter, size_t start_offset,
>  		return netfs_limit_bvec(iter, start_offset, max_size, max_segs);
>  	if (iov_iter_is_xarray(iter))
>  		return netfs_limit_xarray(iter, start_offset, max_size, max_segs);
> +	if (iov_iter_is_kvec(iter))
> +		return netfs_limit_kvec(iter, start_offset, max_size, max_segs);
>  	BUG();
>  }
>  EXPORT_SYMBOL(netfs_limit_iter);
> -- 
> 2.43.0
>