Re: [tip: locking/core] locking/rwsem: Fix logic error in rwsem_del_waiter()

From: Waiman Long

Date: Wed Mar 18 2026 - 13:20:02 EST



On 3/18/26 12:49 PM, Andrei Vagin wrote:
On Wed, Mar 18, 2026 at 1:02 AM tip-bot2 for Andrei Vagin
<tip-bot2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The following commit has been merged into the locking/core branch of tip:
Peter, Waiman sent another version of this fix:
https://lkml.org/lkml/2026/3/17/2474
I think we need to consider taking that one instead of this one.

That is fine. It may be easier for me to send another patch on top of the current locking/core branch.

Cheers,
Longman


Thanks,
Andrei

Commit-ID: 68bcd8b6e0b10d902f7fc8bf3f08f335f5d1640e
Gitweb: https://git.kernel.org/tip/68bcd8b6e0b10d902f7fc8bf3f08f335f5d1640e
Author: Andrei Vagin <avagin@xxxxxxxxxx>
AuthorDate: Sat, 14 Mar 2026 18:26:07
Committer: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
CommitterDate: Mon, 16 Mar 2026 13:16:48 +01:00

locking/rwsem: Fix logic error in rwsem_del_waiter()

Commit 1ea4b473504b ("locking/rwsem: Remove the list_head from struct
rw_semaphore") introduced a logic error in rwsem_del_waiter().

The root cause of this issue is an inconsistency in the return values of
__rwsem_del_waiter() and rwsem_del_waiter(). Specifically,
__rwsem_del_waiter() returns true when the wait list becomes empty,
whereas rwsem_del_waiter() is supposed to return true if the wait list
is NOT empty.

This caused a null pointer dereference in rwsem_mark_wake() because it
was being called when sem->first_waiter was NULL.

Fixes: 1ea4b473504b ("locking/rwsem: Remove the list_head from struct rw_semaphore")
Reported-by: syzbot+3d2ff92c67127d337463@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Andrei Vagin <avagin@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Tested-by: syzbot+3d2ff92c67127d337463@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260314182607.3343346-1-avagin@xxxxxxxxxx
---
kernel/locking/rwsem.c | 4 ++--
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/locking/rwsem.c b/kernel/locking/rwsem.c
index ba4cb74..bf64709 100644
--- a/kernel/locking/rwsem.c
+++ b/kernel/locking/rwsem.c
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ bool __rwsem_del_waiter(struct rw_semaphore *sem, struct rwsem_waiter *waiter)
{
if (list_empty(&waiter->list)) {
sem->first_waiter = NULL;
- return true;
+ return false;
}

if (sem->first_waiter == waiter) {
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ bool __rwsem_del_waiter(struct rw_semaphore *sem, struct rwsem_waiter *waiter)
}
list_del(&waiter->list);

- return false;
+ return true;
}

/*