Re: [PATCH] mm: memcontrol: fix rcu unbalance in get_non_dying_memcg_end()

[Shakeel Butt]

On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 11:06:21AM +0800, Qi Zheng wrote:
> From: Qi Zheng <zhengqi.arch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Currently, get_non_dying_memcg_start() and get_non_dying_memcg_end() both
> evaluate cgroup_subsys_on_dfl(memory_cgrp_subsys) independently to
> determine whether to acquire or release the RCU read lock.
> 
> However, the result of cgroup_subsys_on_dfl() can change dynamically at
> runtime due to cgroup hierarchy rebinding (e.g., when the memory
> controller is moved between cgroup v1 and v2 hierarchies). This can cause
> the following warning:
> 
>  =====================================
>  WARNING: bad unlock balance detected!
>  7.0.0-next-20260420+ #83 Tainted: G        W
>  -------------------------------------
>  memcg-repro/270 is trying to release lock (rcu_read_lock) at:
>  [<ffffffff815f57f7>] rcu_read_unlock+0x17/0x60
>  but there are no more locks to release!
> 
>  other info that might help us debug this:
>  1 lock held by memcg-repro/270:
>   #0: ffff888102fa2088 (vm_lock){++++}-{0:0}, at: do_user_addr_fault+0x285/0x880
> 
>  stack backtrace:
>  CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 270 Comm: memcg-repro Tainted: G        W           7.0.0-next-20260420+ #
>  Tainted: [W]=WARN
>  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.12.0-1 04/01/2014
>  Call Trace:
>   <TASK>
>   ? rcu_read_unlock+0x17/0x60
>   dump_stack_lvl+0x77/0xb0
>   print_unlock_imbalance_bug+0xe0/0xf0
>   ? rcu_read_unlock+0x17/0x60
>   lock_release+0x21d/0x2a0
>   rcu_read_unlock+0x1c/0x60
>   do_pte_missing+0x233/0xb40
>   __handle_mm_fault+0x80e/0xcd0
>   handle_mm_fault+0x146/0x310
>   do_user_addr_fault+0x303/0x880
>   exc_page_fault+0x9b/0x270
>   asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x30
>  RIP: 0033:0x5590e4eb41ea
>  Code: 61 cc 66 0f 6f e0 66 0f 61 c2 66 0f db cd 66 0f 69 e2 66 0f 6f d0 66 0f 69 d4 66 0f 61 0
>  RSP: 002b:00007ffcad25f030 EFLAGS: 00010202
>  RAX: 00005590e4eb8010 RBX: 00007ffcad260f7d RCX: 00007f73c474d44d
>  RDX: 00005590e4eb80a0 RSI: 00005590e4eb503c RDI: 000000000000000f
>  RBP: 00005590e4eb70a0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 00007f73c483a680
>  R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000
>  R13: 00007ffcad25f180 R14: 00005590e4eb6dd8 R15: 00007f73c4869020
>   </TASK>
>  ------------[ cut here ]------------
> 
> Fix this by explicitly tracking the RCU lock state, ensuring that
> rcu_read_unlock() in get_non_dying_memcg_end() is strictly paired with
> the lock acquisition, regardless of any runtime rebinding events.
> 
> Fixes: 8285917d6f38 ("mm: memcontrol: prepare for reparenting non-hierarchical stats")
> Signed-off-by: Qi Zheng <zhengqi.arch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  mm/memcontrol.c | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++----------
>  1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
> index c3d98ab41f1f1..38f48a45b7ae5 100644
> --- a/mm/memcontrol.c
> +++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
> @@ -805,12 +805,17 @@ static long memcg_state_val_in_pages(int idx, long val)
>   * Used in mod_memcg_state() and mod_memcg_lruvec_state() to avoid race with
>   * reparenting of non-hierarchical state_locals.
>   */
> -static inline struct mem_cgroup *get_non_dying_memcg_start(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
> +static inline struct mem_cgroup *get_non_dying_memcg_start(struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
> +							   bool *rcu_locked)
>  {
> -	if (cgroup_subsys_on_dfl(memory_cgrp_subsys))
> +	/* Rebinding can cause this value to be changed at runtime */
> +	if (cgroup_subsys_on_dfl(memory_cgrp_subsys)) {
> +		*rcu_locked = false;
>  		return memcg;
> +	}
>  
>  	rcu_read_lock();
> +	*rcu_locked = true;
>  
>  	while (memcg_is_dying(memcg))
>  		memcg = parent_mem_cgroup(memcg);
> @@ -818,20 +823,23 @@ static inline struct mem_cgroup *get_non_dying_memcg_start(struct mem_cgroup *me
>  	return memcg;
>  }
>  
> -static inline void get_non_dying_memcg_end(void)
> +static inline void get_non_dying_memcg_end(bool rcu_locked)
>  {
> -	if (cgroup_subsys_on_dfl(memory_cgrp_subsys))
> +	if (!rcu_locked)
>  		return;
>  
>  	rcu_read_unlock();
>  }
>  #else
> -static inline struct mem_cgroup *get_non_dying_memcg_start(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
> +static inline struct mem_cgroup *get_non_dying_memcg_start(struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
> +							   bool *rcu_locked)
>  {
> +	*rcu_locked = false;

We don't need to set rcu_locked to false here as we don't access in !V1 build
option.

With that fixed, you can add:

Acked-by: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@xxxxxxxxx>